Frost Along the Road
by moviedragon009
Summary: Two sisters find that paying a visit to some some old friends can have unintended consequences...such as a quest to destroy an ancient relic. The official, and highly requested, sequel to "The Hobbit and The Snow Queen"!
1. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Return

**Author's Note: I would encourage everyone, before they read this story, to first read _The Hobbit and the Snow Queen_; that's the best way to make sense of what goes on in this tale.  
**

The snow glowed white on the mountain peaks across the fjord, an effect achieved through the soft light of the moon hanging in the sky above. But it didn't do so in total isolation, not in this kingdom of the north; flickering ribbons of brilliant hues of green and magenta softly danced against the dark, star-specked blue of the sky, granting a greater amount of light to those who happened to be wandering around at this time of night. In this case, that happened to be Anna, who quietly tip-toed barefoot down the castle halls in her night-gown, watching the lights shimmer through the window. Such astronomical displays filled her with energy, enough so that she couldn't be prevented from abandoning the comforts of her bed to try and shake it off.

On this night, Anna had in mind a certain place where she wanted to be at the moment, where she could watch the lights without hindrance. So, as not to wake anyone in particular, she strolled down the dark halls, wincing at the instances where her feet made contact with bare wooden floor. Having memorized all the little twists and turns in the passageways of the castle she called home, it didn't take her very long at all to find the right door, even in the faint light. Gently turning the brass knob and making sure the clicking of the inner mechanisms weren't too audible, she pulled aside the door and slipped her way through the gap. Relying on memory to guide her in the dark, she ascended the spiraling staircase up to its furthermost limit, where she opened another door and became immersed in the soft cool of a late summer's night, her feet stepping on to the cold weathered stone floor of the northwest tower. Her eyes went straight up towards the sky, and she drank in the iridescence of the northern lights while her feet stepped along as if on their own accord.

Going along two or three paces, Anna's attention remained fixed on the glowing bands of color. Watching them shimmering and wavering with more life than the waves of the ocean water in the fjord, she couldn't help but wonder; what magic from the dawn of time engineered such magnificence? She remembered hearing something about the Faerie War in the beginning, and wouldn't be surprised if something from that primordial time had something to do with it. What else but magic could create something so beautiful?

Almost out of nowhere, the brilliant white of a shooting star zipped across the color-filled sky, burning long enough for Anna to follow its path from one end of the fjord to the other. At first she raced to find a decent wish, but then such thoughts stopped—along with her heart—as she saw through her peripheral vision that she wasn't alone. Her sister, Elsa, stood a few paces away from her, leaning on the barrier with crossed arms in her own blue nightdress. Her pale skin and light blonde hair seemed to glow as much as the snow did in the moonlight. Her sky-blue eyes were directed towards the craggy mountains across the waters of the fjord instead of the light show going on above the two of them.

"Oh, hey!" Anna burst out in surprise, disturbing Elsa from her quiet meditation, "You're here! Not that you can't be here, or anything, y'know, who's to tell you what to do—I mean, I just didn't think you'd be here at this time of night…"

"Anna, what are you doing out here so late?" Elsa asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Anna replied, "As for me, I just, uh…"

Before she could go on, Elsa simply smiled, and said, "Let me guess: the sky's awake, so you're awake?"

"Guilty," Anna admitted, "What about you?"

"Oh, nothing," Elsa replied, turning her gaze back towards the distant mountain slopes, "I just…couldn't sleep is all. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh yeah?" Anna asked. She walked over and took a place on Elsa's left side; the closer she got to her own sister, she could feel the air drop a little in temperature. But that was something she had gotten used to. What she hadn't gotten used to was how Elsa slightly jerked away from her, as if she was still afraid to touch her. Deep inside it hurt Anna slightly, but at least this wasn't a one-sided conversation with a closed door between them, like it used to be.

"Are you worried about that council meeting you got tomorrow?" she asked, hoping to start up a decent conversation, "Because I sure would be, because, well, holy cow, it sounds really important…"

"No Anna, that's not it."

"Was it a bad dream?"

"I told you, it's nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Aw, c'mon," Anna said, "Share!"

"Since when is what goes on in my head something you need to know about?" Elsa questioned.

"Well, I know if it was a good dream, then you wouldn't be out here," Anna explained, "And if it was just a mildly bad dream, you still wouldn't be out here. But since you're out here, well then, clearly it's a REALLY bad dream, and you could use someone to talk to about it, maybe do some psychoanalyzing, or whatever it's called."

"I don't think that's how it works," Elsa said.

"Oh c'mon, Elsa!" Anna pleaded, "Just tell me what's going on! I promise I won't share it with anyone else!" Seeing that Elsa remained resilient, Anna decided to pull in close, and use her secret weapon.

"No secrets," she said in a serious tone, "Remember?"

Those last words had the right effect on her older sister; she quivered, as if stung by an arrow. Then her shoulders loosened, as did her tongue.

"There are times when my dreams take me to a place I once called home," Elsa began, "Sometimes I dream about ancient forests, open fields, caverns darker than dark, and mountains taller than you can fathom. Sometimes I dream about graceful elves, stalwart dwarves, mysterious wizards, and valiant men. And sometimes I dream about sitting by the campfire, eating good food, and laughing along with the others out in the wild…"

"Sounds to me more like memories than dreams," Anna remarked.

Elsa nodded. "Do you realize that it's been eight months since I came home?" she asked, "And a whole year since I ran away?"

"Well, yeah, so does the whole kingdom," Anna said, "People are still calling it the 'Frozen Summer', Elsa."

"Yes, well," Elsa said, "I know from your end I was only gone for four months, but from my end I was gone for years, Anna. It feels like I left a whole life behind me…and I can still remember what happened in all that time. I can still remember them, Anna; Gandalf, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin…"

"And Bilbo?"

"Yeah," Elsa said softly, "and Bilbo. Not to mention so many other people…"

"You miss them, don't you?"

"Yes…I just can't help but wonder what they're all doing with their lives now…the ones who survived, anyway. I wonder if they're okay…"

"Is that it?" Anna asked. "I'm sure they're all fine, wherever they are."

Elsa didn't seem convinced, however, as she kept her gaze on the mountains in the distance. Looking in the same direction, Anna remembered at that moment why she did; she remembered seeing her sister sprint across the fjord in her coronation ensemble towards those mountains, the water turning to ice the moment it touched her feet. She remembered standing near the water's edge, watching the newly crowned queen disappear into the trees, calling out her name and being restrained from following her at that time…

Had it really been a whole year since that fateful day? Even now, it seemed so far off.

She looked back at Elsa again. An idea formed in her head again…maybe this time it would work; as opposed to the other times she had popped the question.

"Well, if you're really so worried," she started, "then maybe, oh I dunno...a quick visit wouldn't hurt—"

Elsa's answer was swift and resolutely solid: "NO, Anna."

"Ugh," Anna groaned at the rebuttal. But she wouldn't be defeated so easily, "C'mon, Elsa! You got to go see a whole other WORLD! I just want to see it for myself, to see it for real!"

"Anna, it's too dangerous," Elsa said, standing upright and staring down at her with the sternness only an older sibling could wield.

"So there's a bunch of gremlins and monster dogs running around, so what?" Anna said, "What would I have to worry about when I've got you with me? Besides, it wouldn't be very long, we'd just drop by to say hi, and—"

"You don't understand," Elsa sighed, "…It's bigger than that. It would be too dangerous for both of us."

"This is coming from the girl who whipped up an army of ice soldiers," Anna said. "I saw that too, you know."

"My answer is still no," Elsa said. She then walked past Anna towards the tower door, saying, "I'm going back to bed. I suggest that you do the same. Good night."

Before Anna could say anything else in protest, the door shut behind her sister, and she was left alone in the night.

Blowing a puff of air through her loose hair, she turned back towards the night sky to watch the spectacle with noticeably less enthusiasm than before, mostly because of the frustration weighing her down. Foiled again, she thought bitterly, for the umpteenth time in a row…or something like that, she certainly hadn't been counting.

But in no way did it mean that she was about to give up. Far from it; Princess Anna was not one to be deterred so easily.

* * *

Elsa walked quietly down the halls back to her room, though still unsure of whether or not she would be able to get any sleep. She had a suspicion that Anna would be up and about on this night, but she hadn't suspected that they would cross paths, let alone come to the same castle tower. Still, she felt glad to have at least someone to talk to at the time…though Elsa would have to admit that it wasn't easy. All that time speaking to Anna, and that streak of white in her otherwise reddish hair leered at her as a reminder of what she had done to her sister…after all these years, it still made her afraid to touch her. Even though Anna now knew about her powers, she wondered if she would ever be able to tell her the whole truth behind her hesitation…

After what seemed like a long time, she finally reached the door to her room and slipped back inside. She flopped into the comfort of her blankets, but even their softness failed to drive away her troubling thoughts.

Elsa had long lost track of how often Anna asked her to take her to see Middle-Earth, but it had been that way ever since she had returned home and figured out how to undo the curse of the Frozen Summer. Consistently she refused the persistent query with her lips…but not with her heart. The grey wizard's warning was strong enough to keep her from touching the Star Gems again, but the desire to visit that world that she had been ready to call home remained within her. But even then there were other things that helped her resist the temptation, things that woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and surrounded by frost of her own making.

You need to get some sleep tonight, Elsa, she told herself. Just relax, and let it go... hopefully she wouldn't have the nightmare of that flaming red eye and the haunting voice that accompanied it again tonight.

* * *

Unmarred by passing clouds, the heat of a bright morning sun bore down on a town bustling with activity. Blue and white streamers were draped across cottage windowsills, while vendors were lined up on the streets selling clothes embroidered with winter scenes, toys carved in the shapes of snowmen, and other such novelties; the owner of a certain trading post and sauna had even come down from the mountains to offer half prices on his winter gear in anticipation of this day. Had a wanderer from a distant kingdom come to town on this day, he or she would surely think something had gone wrong with the mental state of the citizens. On the contrary; this was merely a sort of unofficial holiday held in remembrance of the 'Frozen Summer' the year before; granted, a great many of the people who remembered the event acknowledged that it had been a disaster, but admittedly the idea that it really had snowed in the heat of summer was quite a novel thing, and some of the more crafty merchants took advantage of that fact. No one, however, had asked permission of the Queen, so in perspective it was a rather minor folk celebration that had yet to bloom into a tourist attraction.

Anna had already seen all the quiet preparation that had gone into this folk celebration during some time spent with Kristoff, and now, seeing it afar from one of the tower windows, couldn't help but wonder if Elsa was even aware of this, and if she was, what she would've thought of it. As far as she was concerned, Anna felt rather divided on the issue; on one hand, she couldn't help but giggle at the neat little trinkets and at how two small children tossed handfuls of flour into the air, claiming that it was snowing again. On the other hand, however, she still remembered how much colder it became with each and every passing day that Elsa was gone. She also remembered the look on Elsa's face when she saw what her unleashed powers had done as soon as they came within the city limits…

But that remained a rather minor concern of Anna's at the moment; perhaps one of the officials would bring it up at the council meeting, and that would settle the issue. For now, she had one single thing on her mind, a plan that she had labored over long into the night, and was anxious to put into motion.

She watched as Elsa greeted the high-ranking officials at the door, and also as all of them followed her into the courtroom, with the doors slamming shut behind them as the guards took their places on either side. Anna could tell that Elsa had made an effort to look as queen-like as possible; rather than wear the loose, shimmering blue dress that she herself had conjured personally, she resorted to clothing herself in a more traditional dress for the occasion. However, she insisted on keeping her hair in that long braid of hers with her bangs swept to the back as if blown by the wind, which Anna didn't mind very much.

However, as soon as that was finished with, and with the muffled banging of the gavel signaling the beginning of the meeting, Anna immediately made her way back up the stairs, careful not to draw too much attention to herself. She passed by roughly a dozen servants on the way there, and to Anna's own confusion, she felt anxiety build within her with each passing face the closer and closer she got to her destination. _Calm down, will you?_ She thought to herself, _No one knows about them except you and Elsa. And no one knows about this little operation except you._

After climbing up the stairs, she found the white door decorated with blue trapezoid-petal flowers that she had been looking for.

A flood of painful memories came over her; how many times had she come up to this door and knocked, expecting her sister to loosen up and play with her for just once in her young life? How many attempts at luring her out had she tried? Only now did she realize the reason for Elsa keeping her out of her room, and practically her life, for all these years; while at the very least it blessed Anna with understanding, it also filled her with some degree of despair. Even now that she was back and her little secret was public knowledge, Elsa still preferred to keep the door to her room shut.

Shaking away the recollection so it wouldn't distract her, Anna refocused herself on the mission at hand. From her pocket, she drew out a long, dark skeleton key, acquired from one of the guards with much persuasion, and placed it gently inside the keyhole.

"No more closed doors," she whispered.

To her satisfaction, the lock gave way, and the door swung open to let her inside, as well as let out a shock of cold air. Bracing herself against the chilly gust, Anna stepped in and almost immediately stared in awe at what greeted her. Of course the room possessed a bed, a dresser, and the usual things that a bedroom should have, but Elsa clearly went out of her way to personalize the place; much of it was ornamented with ice that might've been mistaken for glass fashioned into the most elegant of shapes along the walls, formed into a graceful table that sat in the middle with a frozen fountain on top, and numerous other things that she could only guess were Elsa's personal experiments into seeing what she was capable of. The sunlight coming in through the window gave the room a brilliant sense of life, reflected with beauty and serenity, and none of it melting away. It was almost like stepping into winter all over again…on that note, maybe Elsa wouldn't be entirely opposed to letting the common folk have a little winter celebration in summer, if not participate in it.

Rubbing her hands against her arms to generate warmth, Anna stepped further on inside, and asked herself in a quiet voice, "Now if I were Elsa, where would I hide a chest of glowing rocks?"

The first place she looked was underneath the bed, pulling away the blue covers to find…nothing. Not even a few old toys strewn about.

Perhaps that was too obvious.

Next, she tried the wardrobe. After leafing through the large collection of Elsa's other dresses (many of which had been gathering dust) and gowns, she still felt frustration at not finding what she came looking for.

Maybe that was too obvious as well. She would have to look even harder.

The next place she tried was Elsa's dresser, upon which sat a very large mirror. But something very nearly stopped her from searching the drawers: herself, or rather her own reflection in Elsa's mirror. She stared back at herself, standing in a place where she shouldn't be, and inside she felt as though she were weighed down by a millstone. It was an emotion she had felt more often than what was probably healthy for her, having come upon her the night that she pulled her sister's glove off demanding an answer, as well as so many other days in childhood when she questioned what crime she committed to drive Elsa to isolation…and now it came upon her here of all places.

What was she even doing here, rifling through Elsa's things like this? For so many years she had struggled for so long to gain her sister's trust, to rekindle the friendship they had as children, and now here she was undermining the very foundation it was built upon through trespassing…

It doesn't have to be like that, a voice within her said. What Elsa doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, I could be right back home before she even notices.

With that, she continued, opening the very first drawer she came across—which was full of socks.

Wait a minute. The memory of the chest came back to her, and she vaguely remembered how long and wide it was. Would it really fit inside one of these drawers…?

"Hi, Anna!" a voice said cheerfully from behind her.

At the sound of it, Anna's heart nearly skipped a beat as she whirled around in surprise. Looking down, she saw Olaf standing in the open doorway, with his head tilted at an angle while the tiny snow cloud above him continued to drop snowflakes.

"Gah! Olaf," Anna half-yelped. "What are you—I mean, good morning! How are you, today?"

"I'm _wonderful_!" the little snowman replied.

"Why aren't you outside enjoying the summer?" Anna asked.

"I wanted to see what you were doing," Olaf answered, "…What _are _you doing, by the way? Isn't this Elsa's room?"

"Yes, it is," Anna said, "I was just looking for something…"

"Something special?" Olaf asked.

"Well, you know, I wouldn't say something especially _crucial_; I just wanted to get a quick look at it for curiosity's sake…"

"Is it something Elsa would miss?"

"…No, no, not really."

"You hesitated."

"What? No I didn't, I—you know what, never mind," she said. She started to get the feeling that this would lead to nowhere.

"Well," Olaf started as he wandered over to the window, "If it's something really special, I know that Elsa wouldn't keep here."

Then again, maybe it could, she decided.

"Really?" Anna asked.

"Yep; she's got a special place where she keeps stuff that must be really important," the snowman explained.

Wow, Anna thought, Elsa's a lot smarter than I give her credit for... and yet somehow Olaf knew where it was.

"How do you know about that?" she asked him.

"Oh, I just followed her to it," Olaf explained, "I don't think she saw me, though; not to brag, but I can be pretty sneaky, sometimes."

She had to give him that, definitely. She also wondered, however, if that 'special place' really did happen to be where the chest laid; it would make a lot of sense unless it turned out to be a secret collection of knick-knacks and dolls. Before she spoke again, however, she did feel that sinking feeling of guilt again at the thought of taking advantage of Olaf like this…

But was she really hurting anyone, though?

Olaf then asked, "Do you wanna see it?"

* * *

Sitting as politely, quietly, regally, and rigidly as she had been trained to do as queen for years, Elsa felt restless upon the throne, looking down a long table with two rows of noblemen and women on either side. Over the course of forty-two minutes (a nearby grandfather clock revealed that information), she had sat there listening to both sides argue and debate over things like land settlements, tax deductions, etcetera, and while it was tempting to doze off and hope that they didn't notice, she knew too well that she was not there to look pretty. In fact, she had to listen intently to every little detail brought up by either side, for eventually they would look to her to see which side she supported, or at the very least made the stronger argument. After that, she would make her ultimate decision, and her word became law.

Overall it was a fairly effective method of governing the kingdom. But her only problem with it was that, more often than she would've liked, both sides were so passionate about whatever they were arguing about that the debate would go on for hours at times; hence these council meetings didn't occur that often.

Fortunately for her, the current topic of whether or not to allow the legalization of bridge tolls was settled rather quickly, with her in favor of discontinuing the practice. With that, the spokesman for the meeting announced, "And now for the next item on the itinerary: it is proposed that the Kingdom of Arendelle form a political alliance with the City-State of Palace City and be formally inducted into the so-called 'Empire'. We will now begin the discussion."

Now this was a fairly crucial one that, were it not for the insistence of her advisors, Elsa might have been able to settle herself. Truth be told, the word 'empire' was a rather misleading term, and was merely a reference to its territorial expanse; in truth, it was more of a confederacy of independent kingdoms rather than a singular government, bound together by common ideologies and a pursuit of peace and coexistence as opposed to a barbaric land-grab as most so-called empires were. The neighboring kingdom of Corona, Elsa had been previously informed, had already accepted this invitation, and thus far nothing terrible had happened to them since then; in fact, word was that their citizens enjoyed many of the benefits that the people in Palace City were said to have. However, there was still some concern as to why such a union among kingdoms had to occur in the first place.

Elsa herself never paid a visit to Palace City in her life, nor had she met the High King; most of her years had been spent behind closed doors, or recently in another world entirely. However, from what she understood, the High King was a wise and benevolent being who ruled in fairness, but also a powerful warrior and a skilled mage, more so than any in the known kingdoms, close enough even to rival the Faeries. She also knew, however, that he wasn't even human…

Regardless, she made her mind up concerning the matter a long time ago. The only real question was whether or not her advisors and the other officials of the kingdom were open to such a proposal or not; it would be unwise of her to officially announce her decision without the support of the people of her own kingdom. So for now she simply half-listened to the arguments being tossed back and forth like vengeful darts. All she really needed to do was to wait for them to finish the debate and turn to her for her final verdict on the matter.

She allowed herself to relax a little bit, and her eyes began to wander from the discussion before her up towards the windows centered in the roof, towards the sunlight that shone through them. More so than any other time before now, she longed for the meeting to be done with. She longed to get outside and breathe in some fresh air. She longed to get back out in the open, to get on the road and follow it wherever it would lead her. She longed to see mountains taller than those she had ever seen, forests more ancient than anyone living knew, and cities full of people she had never met before. And she would do it all with her dearest friend by her side…

Something stole across one of the windows, quietly surprising her. Was it a bird that had flown outside? No, it was too big to be a bird…but whatever it was, it had vanished.

Strange…

Her eyes returned to the foreground; the ministers and officials were still discussing and debating, no change there. And yet, she couldn't help but feel that something was off...

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something slip into the shadows near the furthest corner from her. But when she looked in that direction, all she saw was an empty corner. Could it be a mere trick of the light?

The answer came sooner than she expected; for the span of an instant, she saw a figure cloaked in black and red, wearing clawed gloves and a large hood over its face, silently striding just behind the people on the furthest end of the table before it disappeared again, like a moth popping in and out of a spotlight.

She gripped the arm of her chair like a vise. How did no one else see that? The phantom had practically walked right behind one woman, fluttering a few strands of hair, and she didn't even notice! But what could she do? Did she dare try to point the phantom out? But if no one else noticed it, was it possible that she was the only one who did? What would it say about her if she tried to alert the others?

"Your majesty?" the spokesman said, "Are you alright?"

His voice shocked Elsa back into the moment. Only now did she see everyone looking expectantly in her direction. Looking down, she saw that the arm of her chair was coated in thick frost.

She inhaled deeply, calming herself, and in her mind she repeated the one mantra that had truly become her ally.

_Love will thaw. Love will thaw._

With that, the frost began to dissipate until it was all gone.

"Yes," she said, "I'm sorry about that…"

"Have you reached a decision, your majesty?" the minister asked.

"Hm? Oh, actually…" Elsa started. Then she glanced over to her left, and there, in a distant corner, she saw the phantom. He simply stood there without making a single movement. Underneath his hood, she could see the glimmer of a pair of eyes staring back at her. She stared right back at him with an icy glare.

What do you want? She said inside. Why are you here? Why can no one else see you?

Again, the phantom simply stood still. However, she noticed that he had slightly tilted his head at an angle. Her eyes darted in the direction he indicated, and she found herself looking at the doors. She looked back, and the phantom was gone again.

"Your majesty?" the minister asked again.

She returned her attention to him. "I…well, this is such a crucial decision for the kingdom," she said, "…I need some time to think it over. I call for a thirty-minute recess."

The minister nodded, and he made it so; everyone lifted themselves from off of their seats and started to stretch, a bittersweet mixture of relief from sitting for ages and disappointment at not hearing Elsa's declaration. Elsa, meanwhile, made a beeline for the door. Stepping through, she summoned the captain of the guard with some of his best men. Within a few moments, he, a tall brawny man with thick black sideburns, and several others arrived, curious about the matter.

"You called for us, milady?" the Captain asked.

"Yes, Captain," she affirmed, "Order your men to close the gates and guard every possible entrance; I don't want anyone coming in nor out of this castle. Keep watch over the ministers and officials as well. Do you understand?"

"Yes, milady," the Captain replied, "But may I ask what this is about? Is there an intruder?"

"Yes, Captain," she answered, "But I will deal with him myself."

Leaving the confused guards behind, Elsa moved down the hall, her eyes darting around for the trespasser. She became aware of her surroundings like she had never been before…not for a long time, anyway. Old instincts began to flare again; her hand gently waved around by her side, stirring up some cold air ready to strike with. But even then there was the crippling sensation of terror deep within her.

What are you? She wondered.

She came to the end of the hallway, where it took a left. Here, she became especially wary; corners were especially dangerous, being a perfect place to spring a trap. But she refused to be caught unawares. As a matter of fact, this presented a unique opportunity to turn the tables.

She took it without hesitation, sending a hurricane gale of ice and snow around the corner, and followed straight after it to see the results. The results, however, obviously wouldn't please the servants; aside from the snow and ice covering the area, much of the furniture were blown over, and several wall decorations where thrown off their places.

And to cap it all off, the phantom stood at the other end of the hall, clearly untouched.

The two stared at each other from their respective places. Elsa, expecting just about anything at this point, readied herself to use whatever winter attack would suit her best; whoever this person was, he had picked the wrong queen to mess with.

The seconds seemed to pass by as slowly as possible. Elsa kept her eyes locked on the phantom, watching for the smallest of movements that would betray an attack. The phantom, in turn, kept his face in her direction, but whether or not he was directly looking at her, she couldn't tell, given how his eyes were hidden.

Finally, the phantom made a motion. Elsa raised her hand to strike, only to realize that it wasn't out of hostility. Instead, the phantom merely waved his hand in a summoning motion, indicating that he wanted her to follow him. He then turned to the left, going down another hallway.

At first, Elsa felt confused. However, she didn't want to lose him, not this time.

_Fine, I'll play your little game_, she thought, _but where exactly are we going?_

* * *

"Where exactly are we going?" Anna asked as she followed Olaf further and further down into the lower levels of the castle, the bright wallpapers colors of scarlet, gold, and violet being replaced with the dark grey of exposed rock and stone. The air steadily became chilling with every step they took, while light itself became scarce, forcing Anna to light a torch and bear it the rest of the way. She hadn't been down to the dungeons that often, nearly not at all, and now that she was down here, she wondered if it was possible that the castle foundations went deeper than she had ever imagined.

"We're almost there," Olaf assured her, "You'll see."

_I hope you're right_, Anna thought. They walked past cells that hadn't seen an actual occupant for years, but they still filled her with no small amount of dread as they made their way to Olaf's destination. The wailing and shrieking of prisoners behind those doors filled Anna's imagination, no matter how much she wanted them out. She looked towards Olaf, and it relieved her to find that even he seemed somewhat nervous at the ominous surroundings; at least she wasn't alone in her dreading of the place. To his credit, though, he did put on a brave face.

Turning a corner, Olaf led her to another door, but it looked like this one didn't lead to a prisoner's cell. Anna came up to it and tried the handle, only to find it locked. Before she could retrieve the skeleton key, however, Olaf walked up, plucked his carrot nose from off of his face, and stuck the point of it inside the lock.

"Olaf, I don't think that's going to—" Anna started.

To her surprise, however, the door swung open, and Olaf proudly replaced the carrot back onto his nose.

"How did you learn to do that?" she asked.

"Well, you know," the snowman explained, "I needed to get away from Sven once, and I think it was Kristoff who said, 'Desperation is the mother of necessity…or something like that. Anyway, it's a long story."

Anna peered through the doorway to find a staircase that led straight down into utter blackness, and from what she could tell, it was even colder down there than up here.

More than likely, her sister had been hanging around here; that much was clear.

Clutching the torch tightly in her hand, she started down the stairway and into the dark, the light of the flames keeping the shadows at bay. Her foot did slip somewhat upon the stone, forcing her to calculate every step she took for her own safety (to her annoyance, the stairway lacked anything tantamount to a handrail to cling onto for dear life. Good gracious, didn't anyone believe in those things back then?).

At last, she found bottom of the stairway, where there stood yet another door in her path—curiously, however, this one lacked a lock. With Olaf following close behind, she pushed it open, and entered a round stone room, where there stood three more doors, these ones bearing locks.

Turning to Olaf, she asked, "So, which one of these doors leads me to the treasure?"

"Um…" Olaf groaned, "…I dunno. I only got so far."

At first, Anna felt slightly aggravated, but then she realized that this was no big deal. She could probably figure out the puzzle on her own. "Could you wait for me back upstairs, please?" she asked Olaf, "I won't be very long."

"Okay!" the snowman said cheerfully as he turned in the other direction, hopping up each step as he went.

Anna, meanwhile, turned back to the three doors before her. So the chest lay behind one of these three doors; did there happen to be a clue that she could follow? She could've simply just used her skeleton key on each one until she found the one with the chest inside, but no, she felt that would've taken up way more time than necessary. She racked her brain for a quick solution to the problem…then she decided that it would be best if she inspected each door up close to see if there was something to set one of them apart. She walked up to the door closest to her left, and examined it for any peculiar details, anything that stood out about it, but finding nothing. She then went over to the door across from her on the right, and again found nothing in particular to set it apart. Finally, she walked over to the door right in between them, and searched the surface for anything….

There was nothing. Frustrated again, Anna sighed and turned back to think things over…

…Right up until she realized that she had seen her own breath.

Wanting some confirmation, she ran back to the door and blew some more air. Its presence registered itself in a small puff of cloud.

If that wasn't a sign that Elsa hadn't spent a lot of time here, then Anna didn't know what was. She reached for the door handle, clasping her hand upon the chilled metal, and slowly turned it, surprised to find that it was unlocked; perhaps Elsa was counting on the locked entrance and the remote location of the place as protection. Anna then pulled, and once the door became ajar, frigid air swept through, sending a burst of shivers and goosebumps across her skin in spite of her sleeves. Braving the chill, she opened the door further, and stepped inside a small dark round room, where only a single light shone in from above.

To Anna's great joy and satisfaction, the light illuminated the chest as it sat squarely upon a stone pedestal. It was just as she remembered it from eight months ago; small, wooden and braced with iron decorated by curious-looking runes.

To her great disappointment, however, it also sat with a cage made of latticework ice.

Yeesh, could Elsa be a stinker, making everything more and more difficult for her. The answer to this problem was simple enough; Anna held a lit torch, so why not use that to melt the ice. But perhaps that would take far too long for her plan to work…

Wait a minute, she thought.

What in the world was she doing? If Elsa was so determined to keep these Star Gems out of Anna's reach, then maybe she meant everything she said about there being something more dangerous than she could imagine? After all, she had endured years and years trying to keep her winter powers a secret, and look what happened when Anna forced her to reveal them! And now here she stood, having taken advantage of an innocent snowman and her sister's regal duties to knick some glowing gems so she could go world hopping.

At that moment, Anna felt sick from her head to her toes. How could she betray Elsa like this, her own sister?

And yet, there was still that tantalizing allure…

No, she couldn't go through with it. This couldn't be the means to her end. She decided right then and there that she would walk right out of here, lock the doors on her way out, go back to her room, and go on with her life pretending that this treachery of Elsa's trust never happened at all…

"Anna!"

Anna whipped around to see Elsa standing in the doorway, appearing shaken and confused at the sight of her down here. Her own heart chilled within her at the shock of being discovered. Never before had she felt so scared of her own sister than she did at this moment.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, but the serious tone of her voice indicated that she knew too well what Anna had been attempting.

At first, she didn't know what to say. Shame and grief weighed down her tongue too strongly for her to be able to form words to express her regret. But words did come out. "Elsa, I—I thought you were—"

"At the council meeting? Yeah, I was," Elsa said, "But then we took a break. Anna, are you so single-minded as to go sneaking around behind my back like this? I've told you time and time again that neither of us is going back there! I can't believe you even got Olaf involved in this."

"I know, I know," Anna said, "I'm so sorry, it's just that—I was just so jealous of how you got to go on such a cool adventure, and I wanted to see everything that you-hey, how'd you even know I'd be down here, anyway?"

"I didn't," Elsa started, "I was following someone else, and then I found Olaf and…" but then she stopped midsentence. Her eyes widened, and she turned about wildly, looking for something in the dark. "Of course," she whispered, "Secluded, no other witnesses…This is the perfect place to pull it off…"

"The perfect place to pull _what_ off?" Anna asked.

Elsa didn't reply. Her eyes zipped back and forth desperately as she stepped backward. Her hand caught on the stone of the doorway, and Anna saw harsh frost spread like fire from where she touched.

"Elsa," Anna asked, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, her sister jumped forward and latched onto her arm. "We've got to get out of here!" she said as she pulled her through the open doorway with surprising strength.

"Hey, HEY!" Anna yelled as Elsa pulled her through the previous rooms toward the exit, "Elsa, Tell me what's happening!"

Before they reached it, the door slammed shut of its own accord, sending a shuddering THUD echoing through the chamber, followed by the sound of small clicks within the mechanism of the lock. The two sisters stopped in their tracks at the sudden hindrance to their escape; Elsa let go of Anna's arm, and spread her arms out, chilled air and snow flowing around her hands. "Get behind me, Anna," she instructed.

"But Elsa—" Anna started to protest.

"JUST DO WHAT I SAY," Elsa declared. Subdued, Anna complied, though she still had no idea what frightened Elsa so much. Still clutching the torch, she held it aloft, trying to see whatever it was that laid in the shadows. Unfortunately, that was all she could see: shadows, dancing along the stony brick wall in the glow of the firelight.

One of the shadows jumped out of the wall, leaping towards the two of them while wielding a sword.

Anna shrieked in fright at the attacker and shut her eyes at the impending doom.

CLASH!

Hearing the strange sound, she looked up to see Elsa standing before her, pushing back the blade of the black and red phantom with her own sword, a long narrow rapier made of pure ice with a hilt that made her think of pure, flowing water frozen around Elsa's hand.

"Anna, get back!" Elsa shouted again.

Anna jumped away from the fight just in time, dropping the torch onto the floor and backing herself against the wall while the Phantom pulled back his sword and came at Elsa again. THWACK! CLASH! FHWASHING! The two weapons sang a shrill song of imminent doom as they collided time and time again. Anna watched this deadly dance with awe, surprised to see how skilled Elsa was in combat; she was like a winter whirlwind, swift, elegant, and cold at the same time, dodging and repelling the bloodthirsty edge of the Phantom's armament, all of it mirrored by the quivering shadows on the wall.

"I see that sword-fight training's paid off!" Anna shouted from the sidelines.

"Thank you!" Elsa said between blade collisions, "I've been practicing."

As if to back up her claim, she pushed forward against the Phantom, and, with a flick of her wrist in a single fluid motion, succeeded in sending the Phantom's sword flying against the room, while directing the point of her own towards his throat.

However, the Phantom leaped several feet backwards, his back against the main door. At first it seemed as though he planned to make an escape, but then FWOOSH! An orange ball of fire burst from his hands and rushed towards Elsa, who let her sword fall to the ground and raised a thick wall of ice in response. Instead of dissipating into smoke, the spinning fireball kept pushing its way through the barrier, forcing Elsa to generate more ice to prevent it. But even then, its heat consistently ate through the ice; seeing it was a futile effort, Elsa leaped out of the way as it punched through and collided with the door to the chest-room, knocking it off of its hinges and sending it in backwards with a crash.

The Phantom then sprinted towards the disarmed Elsa, who launched bolt after bolt of ice and snow at him. But the Phantom dodged every attack with bewildering agility. She in turn jumped to the other side as he swiped at her, the iron claws on his gloves grazing the air just a few inches away from her face. She cast another bolt of ice at the ground beneath his feet, but he jumped straight up into the air, whirled around, and swung his foot into her, knocking her into the treasure-room where he soon followed after landing back onto the floor. The sounds of a struggle came quickly after that.

"Elsa!" Anna shouted. Hopping back onto her feet, she retrieved the torch from the floor and rushed into the treasure room. As she entered, the firelight illuminated broken, smoldering, and altogether shattered remains of what used to be the door lying in pieces across where the pedestal used to be, and to her right, Elsa and the Phantom locked in combat; the Phantom had Elsa pinned against the wall, his clawed hands grasping forward as a stream of fire erupted from his palms. But they were repelled, as it were, by the icy blue beam of winter that shimmered from Elsa's. Fire and ice were both attempting to overpower each other, but thus far it had been drawn into a stalemate.

"Get away from my sister!" Anna shouted, raising the torch like a club as she ran towards the enemy. But just as she was within striking distance, she felt herself thrown back to the other side of the chamber by some unseen force. Her spine was the first thing to hit the stone, knocking the wind out of her and briefly paralyzing her with a burst of pain that rushed through her body with the impact. She slumped to the floor, groaning as she struggled to overcome the sting. The torch, meanwhile, fell to the ground yet again, its flame lighting some of the door splinters on fire.

But then, through the corner of her eye, Anna saw something beneath the broken slabs of wood…something that glowed with a white light. She hauled herself forward, and pulled away the wood; there laid the chest sitting amongst the smashed fragments of its icy cage, still intact…save for the small hole in the side through which several glowing white gems had tumbled through. In their facets, Anna saw things that she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams; titanic beasts clashing amongst towers of stone and glass, a man dressed in red and blue soaring through the skies, and even a vast desert of sand where she saw a man made out of gold with glowing eyes followed by a cylindrical looking creature colored blue and white with a single red eye…

Looking back up, she saw Elsa and the Phantom still locked together, trying to overcome the other…but Elsa seemed to be slipping, her strength giving way to the Phantom's cruel determination.

She looked back down at the Star Gems before her.

She looked back up again, and this time with an idea formulating in her mind.

She grabbed one of the Star Gems, careful not to grasp it too tightly. Ignoring the pain in her back, she got up onto her feet again, and shouted, "Hey, tall, dark and hostile! CATCH!"

With that, Anna lobbed it towards the Phantom, watching it as it sailed like a shooting star through the dark room. Distracted, the Phantom glanced over in her direction and saw the flying gem.

Please catch it, Anna prayed within her, please catch it and wind up somewhere far, FAR away…

Then Elsa looked over as well, her eyes opening up to their widest as she saw what happened.

"ANNA, NO!" Elsa shouted. She pushed back the Phantom with a powerful blasting surge of ice and wind, throwing him against the wall.

In the fastest of movements, her arm moved forward, and the Star Gem wound up in the clutches of her own hand.

Through her fingers, the jewel began to glow brighter and brighter, filling the room with light.

No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! "Elsa!" Anna shouted, "Let it go!"

But it seemed as if her sister couldn't hear her; she seemed too entranced by what she personally saw in the facets. What looked like shards of glass materialized and began to whirl around her in the air.

Immediately she recognized what was happening. With that thought, only one thing resounded in Anna's mind:

Never again.

The pain of being thrown against a wall tossed aside, she charged forward, pushed through the floating shards, and clasped her arms around her sister. Somehow, she felt herself lifting off the ground, levitating in midair. But that hardly mattered to her.

_I am NOT losing you again, Elsa_, she thought. _Neve_r again.

The shards began to swirl faster and faster around them.

Suddenly the black form of the Phantom jumped through, and latched his hand onto Elsa's arm. Anna screamed and tried to kick him away, but to no avail as the room dissolved away while the glass pieces whirled around them with increasing speed. Though she struggled against the adversary, the commotion became too much for her, and she closed her eyes, terrified as she waited for wherever it was that awaited the three of them…

Sooner than she anticipated, the winds died away. Anna suddenly found herself flung through the air, having lost her grip on Elsa. She felt the impact very strongly as she rolled around in…grass. Soft, green grass, as a matter of fact…it was a nice alternative to being thrown against a stone wall, she had to give it that.

Carefully, she opened her eyes, and discovered a forest of tall, strong trees enjoying the gentle warmth of a bright spring day, with birds twittering in the branches like no one's business and a soft wind rushing along its way, rustling the grass as it went by. At first, Anna wondered why they had wound up outside in the castle grounds…but then she failed to recognize any of the trees as being from the castle gardens, nor, as she looked around, was there any sign of the castle in sight. The question, however, still remained; where exactly had she wound up?

Through the corner of her eye, she saw something glowing through the long blades of grass. Parting the foliage aside, she found the Star Gem lying in the dirt; it probably flew out from Elsa's hand when they had landed. Thinking very quickly and moving very fast, she pulled out a small bag of maroon velvet from her pocket that she had taken with her to hide it in originally, and scooped up the Star Gem with it, closing tight the opening with a golden string and placing it back in her pocket. Patting the precious jewel in her pocket, she stood back up on her feet and began to have a look around.

"Elsa?" she called out, "Elsa, where are you?"

A sudden burst of cold flushed forth to her right; she turned and saw as the Phantom was pinned against the trunk of a large tree by dozens of very large, thick icicles erupting from the ground. Several inched dangerously close to his neck. Even then, however, his face was still hidden from view by that hood of his.

Elsa followed close behind, holding her hands out as if the icicles were connected to her hands; Anna knew that should the Phantom make one wrong move, it only took one flick of a finger to send just one of those icicles plunging straight into his neck. Escape failed to be an option for this would-be-killer.

"Who sent you to assassinate me, and why?" Elsa demanded in a strong, powerful voice tempered by indignation.

The Phantom spoke not a word as he hung there.

"SPEAK!" Elsa shouted. She walked straight up to him and reached for his hood, saying, "You have nowhere to run. Confess, and I may just spare your life."

She grabbed the hood and yanked it away to reveal the killer's face—instead, all she found was a crumbling mound of ash and dust.

Leaping back in shock, the two sisters watched as any life disappeared in an instant, and the Phantom's body hung limp, suspended like a scarecrow by the points of the icicles. Ash and dust spilled out from his black clothing onto the grass like sand in soft torrents.

A long time passed before either of the sisters spoke again, too shaken by what they had seen.

"So…" Anna started, "What was he—or it, rather?"

"I think it was a homunculus," Elsa whispered, "I've only heard of them, but I didn't think I'd ever see one."

"A what?"

"It's a magical construct," Elsa explained, "An imitation of human life; it was never alive to begin with. It's a very ancient form of magic, and only the most powerful of sorcerers are able to conjure such things…"

"Yeah, but you made Olaf," Anna said, "And he's alive for real! Wouldn't that make you…"

Elsa, however, seemed to tune out her words, walking away from her as she gazed around the forest. Suddenly she turned to glare straight at Anna again. "Why did you DO THAT, Anna?" she half-yelled.

"What, you mean save your life?" Anna asked, "I was trying to make it so that he'd wind up somewhere, anywhere!"

"Exactly! You could've put an entire world in danger that way!"

"Well, I _didn't_!" Anna argued, "Where are we anyway?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, you grabbed the Star Gem! You had to have had someplace in mind! Isn't that how it works?"

"Yeah, well, I haven't the slightest idea where we…" but then she stopped again. She gazed around the place, and Anna could see in her eyes some glimmer of recognition. "Wait…do you feel that?" she asked.

"Feel what?"

"This place…it's brimming with magic," Elsa said softly.

Just then, Anna heard something in the distance; the sound of creaking wheels, tromping feet, and laughter of both young and old. "Hey, do you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?"

"I don't know…it sounds like there's a village, nearby! Maybe we can get some information, there!" She then ran off towards the direction of the sounds, in spite of Elsa's protest. Following it carefully, she pushed her way through dense brush and branches, the noises becoming more and more audible as she went. At last, she came across the border of the woods; pulling aside some branches, she looked to see an open countryside, trees dotting the landscape and a clear river flowing through rolling green hills…hills with chimney stacks on their uppermost ridge and round doors, windows, and flower gardens at their base. That was strange…but not nearly as strange as what she saw running around on the paths that wound past the individual hills. At first, Anna thought she was looking at a multitude of very small children, but even from this distance she could see that, in spite of their height, many of the people were clearly too old to be children as they went about sweeping dust off the pathways, leading cattle twice their size down the road, and other chores. There did seem to be at least a few youngsters among them, but they were absolutely tiny, barely reaching up to her kneecap from what she could tell. All of them, however, ran around on broad, bare feet covered in curly hair.

It was all just so adorable!

"Elsa," she called out, "Come over here! You've got to see this! It's so cute!"

Sooner than she had expected, Elsa came over to her side and gazed upon the scene with her. Rather than being overcome by the charm of it all, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in terror. She staggered back, and the air began to chill around her.

"Elsa, what's wrong?" Anna asked.

"It can't be…" Elsa whispered, "…I'm back. I'm back in Middle-Earth!"


	2. Chapter 2: Teatime for Three

**EDIT: 6/19/2016**

No words were exchanged between the two sisters for several long moments; Elsa simply stood with her back against the trunk of a tree while she heaved air into her lungs back and forth. Anna, however, simply let her jaw drop open as the news fully registered in her mind. The rest of the world, meanwhile, went about its business.

Anna broke the silence first. "…Middle-Earth?" she said, "As in THE Middle-Earth?! With the wizards and dwarves and elves and dragons and—omigosh omigosh omigosh, this is AMAZING! I never thought that-I mean, you know, this is such a big deal for me, because obviously I've never been to another world but now—here I am, here you are, here we both are!" She then gasped and continued, "We have GOT to see it all, right now! But where are we gonna go first? It's just so hard to choose! Ooh, I know, we've GOT to see where the—"

"We've got to go back," Elsa said as she stood back up straight again, "Right NOW."

"WHAT? But we just got here!" Anna protested.

"And the sooner we get back home, the better," Elsa declared. She walked very quickly back through the bushes to the spot where they landed, scanning the grass around her for something with the intensity of a hawk desperate for a bite of mouse-flesh. Anna quickly figured out what it was she was looking for, and her hand grazed the side of her swollen pocket gingerly as she followed after her back into the clearing.

"Look, Elsa, it's alright," she said, "I'm pretty you haven't set off another Frozen Summer in Arendelle, so there's no rush to get back—"

"It's not_ that _that I'm worried about_,_" Elsa said, pulling back branches and brush, never taking her eyes off of the ground, "Our mere presence here is putting everyone here and back home in terrible danger."

"Danger? What kind of danger? How are we putting anyone in any danger by just being somewhere?" Anna asked.

"You wouldn't understand," Elsa said.

"At least give me a chance! We're here now, so you might as well tell me what you're so afraid of, because I'm pretty sure it's not anything to do with your powers!"

Halting in her tracks, Elsa gave out a deep, regretful sigh. She turned to Anna and said, "Just before I came home, I was told that there were forces at work within this world, more evil and dangerous than you or I could imagine. If someone aligned with such forces found out about us, where we came from, and how we got here, then they'd try to find the Star Gems, and use them to get to our world, and probably others as well. That's why Gandalf had me take the Star Gems back to Arendelle; that way, no one here would use them for evil. You have no idea what kind of damage they could do in other worlds."

"Oh, well _that's_ easy," Anna replied, "We just don't tell the bad guys where we're from!"

"I'm not taking any risks, Anna," Elsa declared, "Now, help me find the Star Gem so we can get back home before anyone notices we're gone."

"It's okay, I've got it right here," Anna said. She pulled out the velvet bag from her pocket and dangled it in the air. "See?"

Once she turned around to see it, Elsa rushed forward to snatch it out from Anna's hand. Anna, however, proved to be the faster of the two, yanking the prize out of her reach and keeping it there, regardless of how many times her sister made the attempt by nearly clambering over her.

"Anna, give it back!" Elsa protested, "We can't stay here; we have to—"

"Then why are we here?" Anna questioned.

"What?"

"If we're not supposed to be here to begin with, why are we here?" Anna asked. "You know how it works better than I do."

Backing away and drawing back her hand slowly, Elsa gazed at her suspiciously. "What are you saying?" she asked.

"You know what I'm saying," Anna said, "It's pretty obvious; you _wanted _to be here, Elsa. You missed Middle-Earth so much, you wanted to come back. You said so yourself that you wanted to see your friends again."

"Not like this!" Elsa said.

"I'm not saying we have to be stuck here _forever._ Just hear me out, Elsa," Anna said. "Look, those little people back there, they were….?"

"Hobbits," Elsa answered, "They were all hobbits."

"Okay then, so that means we're in the Shire, right?"

"How would you know about—?"

"I was in your head a couple times, remember? Anyway, so that means that Bilbo Baggins lives around here, right?"

Elsa became quiet for a moment while she averted her eyes away, but obviously her whole expression had become softened by the very mention of Bilbo's name. Anna hadn't expected this; she knew from the memories she had seen while trying to contact Elsa that the two had been friends, but this suggested something deeper than she had initially suspected…

"He spoke of being from here," Elsa answered, "Yes."

"Well then, why don't we just stop by his house for a while?" Anna proposed, "Like I was saying last night; we'd drop by really quick, have some small talk, you two can catch up over some tea—unless he doesn't have that or you prefer something else, but that's beside the point—and then we'd be back in Arendelle before sunset! Or not, but that depends on how long it takes for you to finish a conversation—but my point still stands!"

Instead of shooting back a sharp refusal, Elsa took a small step backward, anxiety furrowing into her brow and littering the foliage around them with small snowflakes. "I don't know, Anna," she said softly, the hesitancy in her voice all too obvious, "I don't think that he'd…I mean, it's been so long, I don't know if he even…"

Before she could say anymore, Anna replaced the bag back into her pocket and clasped Elsa's hands in her own. "I don't think he cares how long you've been gone," she said, "I think he'd just be happy to see you—no, I _know _he'd be happy to see you… I know I was."

The air slightly warmed as Elsa looked up into her eyes again, but that same hesitancy still lingered in her face.

"I promise," Anna added, "That once we're done here, I'll give the gem back, we can go home, and I'll never bother you about coming back here, or anywhere else not in our world. Deal?"

Once again, silence pervaded for a moment or two while Elsa quietly deliberated over the matter. Before Anna was ready for it, Elsa spoke again.

"Anna…Do you think I'm, you know, over-dressed for the occasion?" she asked.

"You look _fine_, Elsa," Anna assured her.

"Still," Elsa said, sliding her hands out of Anna's, "I can't exactly parade around in this, can I?" With a wave of her hands, a hooded cloak of royal blue shimmered into being; Anna watched in awe as tiny threads and plates of ice ducked and weaved around each other creating layer after layer until they tightened around each other, and the resulting cloak wrapped itself around Elsa's lithe form.

"How do you _do_ that?" she asked.

"Like I do everything," Elsa replied as she pulled up the hood, "Very carefully. Now come on, and try not to draw any attention."

"Yes, ma'am," Anna replied, following along after her. Once Elsa took the lead, Anna jumped and grinned like a little girl. She positively couldn't believe her luck; she had always wanted to meet the brave little hobbit in person rather than see him through someone else's eyes, and it was a fair enough compromise to seeing the whole of Middle-Earth.

A quick moment of clarity struck her at that moment. "Oh, Elsa," she said, "You did get rid of the icicles back there, right?"

"Of course I did."

"Oh, thank goodness."

* * *

Breaking out of the forest brush and stepping into the warmth of sunlight the two women wandered through knee-high grass until they found a dirt path well-worn by years of footsteps, hoof-beats and cartwheels, which they immediately followed into the village of hills and mounds made into houses. As they went their way, Elsa's vision panned across the landscape back and forth, never staying on one scene for long; as a child, she had never been allowed to run outside of the castle grounds, and as a result had never even seen farming before she left Arendelle. In her prior stay in Middle-Earth, she tried her hand at raising vegetables to supplement her diet, but her efforts had never produced results that would've been allowed on the royal table. Now she watched as hobbit farmers directed their plough-pulling cattle across dirt plots, hobbit workers plucking away in vegetable patches with various tools, and so forth. The level of skill and efficiency they possessed struck her as utterly fascinating, all of it; what she wouldn't have given to be able to get dirt under her fingernails again and see what it was really like to spend a day sweating in the fields…she looked over at Anna, and was hardly surprised to see her gazing around at the sight in a similar manner of fascination, and gave little smiles and waves to the tiny hobbitlings they passed by.

The deeper into the limits of the town they went, the two of them crossed the paths of more hobbits of every kind. The good majority of their outfits were decked in bright colors, mainly consisting of green and yellow, as they went about their day buying goods from vendors, herding similarly-sized sheep and cattle along, and other things. Along the side, they saw as some carried large barrels along, played board games, and a good number sat by the side of the road puffing large clouds with the help of long, narrow smoking pipes. It was all just like how Bilbo had described it to her so long ago, perhaps even a little better; she remembered his offer to come here with him as well, and now that she saw the Shire with her own eyes, she imagined what it would've been like to live out the rest of her days in the comfort of these rolling hills, as far away as possible from the despair of her youth…it certainly would've been a welcome alternative to the cave she had been living in last time.

However, she did notice that there were a lot of suspicious looks cast their way; here or there a hobbit mother would restrain her children and speak in hushed voices towards them, while a few elder hobbits would squint while puffing away at their pipes. She wondered, why were they acting this way?  
To her surprise, Anna answered that question in a lowered voice. "I guess they aren't used to people of our…stature, huh?"

Of course, that had to be it. Now she could imagine how Bilbo felt all that time, surrounded by people of a different height.

"By the way," Anna asked as they came upon a curving path in front of a small, humble hobbit hole, "Do you know where we're going? Where exactly _is _Bag End?"

"Oh, um…" Elsa said, trying to bide some time, "…I'm pretty sure it's somewhere around—"

"You don't know, do you?" Anna said.

"No, no I don't," Elsa admitted.

"Well, that's okay," Anna said, "We can just ask…that guy for directions!"

Before Elsa could stop her, Anna came up to the fence of the hobbit hole before them. There knelt a stocky hobbit with wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes, reminding Elsa of Kristoff in a strange sort of way. Dressed in soil-dusted clothing, he stooped over a row of vegetables, with a trowel in hand.

"Excuse me, sir?" Anna said, leaning over the small fence, "Can you help us out?"

The hobbit looked up, surprised to see the two women, but thankfully not in a hostile way. "Yes, ma'am?" he asked. His accent, Elsa noticed, was rougher and less refined than Bilbo's had been—which wasn't too surprising, considering his obvious status.

"Hi, we're looking for Mr. Baggins," Anna asked, "Do you know where he is?"

"Of course I do," he answered, "I'm his gardener…what do you want with Mister Baggins?"

"We're just stopping to say hi—of course we're obviously going to say a lot more, I mean, we're pretty close—well, not _me, _I mean, _she's _close to him, but I'm sure he and I could be friends, but nothing serious, I've got a boyfriend after all and —wait, where was I going with this?"

Elsa stepped in to salvage the situation as best as she could. "We're old friends of his from beyond these borders," she said, "and we've never visited this part of the country, before. Could you please point us in the right direction?"

"Of course, ma'am," he said, "Any friend of Mister Baggins is a friend o' mine. You just want to march straight down _that _road," he pointed down the long row of hobbit holes, "and go all the way to the very end of Bagshot Row. It'll be the smial at the top of the hill with the great-big oak tree growin' on top. You can't miss it."

"Thank you, mister…?"

"Gamgee," the hobbit gardener replied, "Samwise Gamgee at your service, ma'am."

With that, the two sisters gave some more gratitude and said their farewells to the gardener, and started off down the direction where he had indicated they should go.

"Well, he was nice," Anna commented, "And so sweet! I wonder if they're all like that in one way or another…"

"Yeah," Elsa agreed, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Only now did she realize how real meeting Bilbo again had become, now that they knew where to go. True, she'd wanted this day to happen, but that had been under the assumption that she would never come back. Now that her assumption had been proven wrong, she didn't know what she would do, or what she would say once they go there. What would his reaction be once they saw each other? Would he be angry with her, claiming that she had led him on after all that he had offered to her? How would she explain herself to him?

"Hey, I think we're almost there!" Anna said.

Elsa looked up in surprise. Anna was right; as they came around the bend, just a little further down the road, they could see a large oak tree with twisted limbs and leafy branches that sprawled over the top of a hill, where four chimneys poked up incongruously out of the grass. Below that, the slope of the hill became very steep, ending in lush beds of numerous flowers set against sections of yellow walls and round windows that poked through the grass-covered parts of the hill, as if the hill itself had been trying to wash over a small house like the sea would.

They continued further on around two more bends of the road up the hill, and immediately they came upon a short wall of stone marking the perimeter of the place. The border was broken only by a wooden gate, flanked by a mailbox composed of small wooden barrels, which stood before a trail of stone steps leading up to a perfectly round door painted in green with a brass knob in the dead center.

Granted, it was no palace by any means, but even then, despite not knowing a thing about how hobbit society worked, Elsa would have to admit that the place did seem like someplace where only someone of great respect would reside in spite of its overall humility. The fact that it possessed a magnificent view of the lakes, rivers, and whole view of the Shire was proof enough of that.

Unable to contain her excitement, Anna grabbed Elsa by the wrist and practically dragged her along up to and through the front gate. They climbed up the stone steps, and stopped right in front of the door to Bag End. Here, Anna stepped aside and waved her hand to the front door, gesturing to Elsa. "He's your friend, after all," she reasoned.

Taking the invitation, Elsa cautiously stepped up to the door. She did so with breath bated with anticipation. She raised a clenched fist to rap against the wood…but she paused before she could bring down her knuckles, unable to move them.

"Just go ahead and knock," Anna encouraged her, "No big deal."

She's right, Elsa thought. Taking a deep breath, Elsa worked up her nerves and tried again…and yet again, she failed to do so, her fist hanging in the space between her and the door.

"Come on!" Anna whispered.

"…No, no, I—I can't," Elsa said, turning away, "I just can't."

"Why not?" Anna asked, "He's your friend."

"Exactly," Elsa replied, "I don't know if I can face him…"

Giving her a look of sympathy, Anna placed her hand on her sister's shoulder. "It's okay," she said, "I get it; it can be hard."

Elsa felt somewhat better after hearing that from her sister, but even then, a wall of anxiety stood between her and that door. Could she…?

Before she could stew any longer in her indecisiveness, Anna brushed past her, saying, "Leave it to the professional!"

Before Elsa could stop her, she rapped three times on the door. Elsa's jaw fastened at the third and final knock.

For about five long seconds, not a single sound could be heard, not even an acknowledgement of a living being. Maybe Bilbo was out, Elsa theorized internally, maybe he's asleep, or maybe we're just going to have to go back to Arendelle…

But then there came the muffled noise of small feet padding across wood floors. Anna backed up to be by Elsa's side, a wide smile across her face. Elsa's heart, meanwhile, began to race, beating like a drum against her ribcage. This is it, she thought to herself. She braced herself for this long awaited reunion, anticipating what would likely be a very awkward but in the end happy meeting…

The door creaked open at last, and the inhabitant stood in the doorway, looking up at the two of them curiously.

But he wasn't Bilbo.

Elsa felt something within her collapse as she looked down at this young hobbit with dark brown curls of hair, soft facial features, and bright blue eyes dressed in a vest of brown velvet over a white buttoned shirt.

"Hello," the hobbit said, "Can I help you?"

The words struggled to escape Elsa's throat. "I—I—I'm sorry," she said at last, "But I think we're at the wrong address." She turned to leave, but Anna grabbed her by the wrist again, preventing her from going any further.

Turning to the hobbit, Anna said, "Hi, we're here to see Mr. Baggins. Is he here?"

The hobbit extended his hand towards them. "Frodo Baggins," he introduced himself, "at your service."

"Oh, well, pleasure to meet you, Frodo," Anna said, taking his small hand in hers and shaking it politely. "We're actually looking for _Bilbo _Baggins. Is he around?"

"I'm sorry," Frodo replied, "But Bilbo's…well, he's been gone for, well, a very long time, I'm afraid."

Every last possible meaning of those words clashed around in Elsa's head, but it was the worst one possible that occupied the greatest amount of space. But it couldn't be so; Bilbo couldn't possibly be…

I'm too late, she thought, mournfully surrendering to the terrible idea. I didn't come in time…and now I'll never see him again.

"…We're terribly sorry to bother you," she said to Frodo. "Come on, Anna."

But Anna didn't come with her. She turned back to Frodo and said, "Well, the next time you see him, could you let him know that Elsa and Anna stopped by for a visit, please?"

"…Of course," Frodo said, looking somewhat confused.

While the door closed behind them, Anna then came back to Elsa's side as they stepped back to the front gate. Elsa tried to hide the tears welling up, but what could she do?

But then the door swung back open, and Frodo rushed back outside again. "Hold on a moment!" he shouted out to the two sisters, who paused and turned in surprise. "Did you say _Elsa?_"

"Um, yes!" Anna said as she pointed to her sister, "She's Elsa, I'm Anna, but maybe you figured that out, already."

The hobbit came back down the stairs, awe widening his eyes as he looked at Elsa. "I don't believe it," he whispered, "It's _you_! It's really you! Of course it's you!"

"You know who I am?" Elsa asked, quickly wiping away the tears with her sleeve so that Frodo wouldn't see.

"Of course I know who you are!" he said as he ran up to them, "You're Uncle Bilbo's Snow Queen!"

"_Uncle_ Bilbo?" Elsa asked.

"Well, strictly speaking we're cousins, but that's another story," Frodo explained, "You _must _come inside for some tea; I insist!"

Elsa almost refused, but with a quick nudge from Anna's elbow, the two sisters followed the young hobbit back up the steps towards the door.

"The 'Snow Queen', huh?" Anna commented along the way, "That's pretty catchy!"

"_Please _don't start calling me, that," Elsa said.

They were forced to duck down through the entry, but to their surprise they found that the ceiling was tall enough for people of their height to walk around in with little fear (though on the way in, the hanging chandelier in the entrance hall nearly clocked Anna in the forehead). As Elsa hung her cloak up on the nearby coatrack, they found that the roots of the oak tree itself had been incorporated into the architecture after being thoroughly polished through and through as they wrapped around and dug through the walls.

Frodo lead them into the parlor, where they began to observe how everything about the architecture was dominated by roundness, from the halls to the entryways—but it was far from being a bother at all. Again, Elsa remembered Bilbo's offer and, aside from having to deal with ducking around the chandeliers and underneath the arches, found the place quite to her liking. Some of it, such as the minuteness of the furniture, might have taken some getting used to, but even then she could imagine growing comfortable here…

"You must pardon my enthusiasm; it's not very often that I meet people from Bilbo's adventures," Frodo explained as he went into the kitchen, "Mostly it's just Gandalf, but I haven't seen him for a long time."

"Gandalf's still around?" Elsa asked, "That's good to know."

"Yes, usually he brings his fireworks with him when he stops by."

"Oh, I _love _fireworks!" Anna said as she sat down at the table.

"So do most of the children," Frodo replied, "But as far as everyone else is concerned, he's been labeled a 'disturber of the peace'."

Elsa smiled at the remark; it seemed like the sort of thing that Gandalf would be known for, given her own experiences with the wizard. While Anna made herself comfortable, Elsa found herself drawn to the mantle above the glowing fireplace. Above it hung the portraits of a hobbit man and a hobbit woman across from each other; based off of their features, Elsa had to make the assumption that they were relatives of Bilbo's, perhaps parents. She looked around the mantelpiece briefly before joining Anna at the table, having expecting something to be there, but she didn't know what that would be. Very strange…

Very soon, a fresh kettle sat over the fire, and the conversation began to roll forth while Frodo brought in food (enough for at least three meals) and as they waited for the water to boil: Elsa queried into what Bilbo had been up to after the quest, and Frodo explained that the moment he returned home, he found that his home and belongings were being auctioned off, since everyone had assumed he had up and died while being away for so long. He quickly settled the matter, however, and since then he had lived in relative peace, but in the meantime gained something of an unfavorable reputation, at least as hobbits were concerned.

"And he never married in that time?" Anna asked.

"No, he didn't," Frodo answered, "I asked him about it, and he said he could never find the woman for him."

At that answer, Anna looked over at Elsa with raised eyebrows, but all Elsa could do was draw invisible circles on the table with her finger.

The kettle suddenly whistled, and soon after they all sipped tea through tiny cups while Frodo continued his story, sharing details of what he and Bilbo had gone through together.

"So," Elsa said after he had finished, "What happened to him, in the end?"

"It's actually a very strange story," Frodo said, "We were celebrating his birthday party when he got up to make a speech to the whole crowd. But as he was going along, he said that he was leaving, and after saying farewell, he vanished right into thin air, in front of the whole crowd!"

At first, Elsa felt surprised and wondered how Bilbo could have pulled off such a feat—but then she remembered Bilbo's little secret treasure that he had shared with her. "Yes," she murmured, "That sounds about right…"

"What's that, Elsa?" Anna asked.

"Oh, nothing," Elsa replied, "Anyway, where did he go?"

"No one's seen him since," Frodo explained, "but the last time I spoke to Gandalf, he said that he had gone to stay with the elves."

The knowledge that Bilbo hadn't died was a welcome relief to Elsa.

"Speaking of elves," Frodo said as he poured Anna some more tea, "I've always been curious; Bilbo suspected that you had at least some elvish blood, and…"

"I'm pretty sure we would know if one of our ancestors was an elf," Anna replied with a gentle smile.

"I thought not," Frodo said, "It's just that-you must pardon me for saying so, Miss Elsa, but I can't help but notice that you seem…well…very 'well-preserved', to say the least."

"I'm not sure I understand," Elsa replied.

"Well, it's just that…" Frodo said, clearly uncomfortable with what he was going to say, "…The last time you spoke with Bilbo was towards the end of the quest, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, let me say that the past sixty years have been better to you than they have to Bilbo, and _he _was very well-preserved, too."

The teacup Elsa had been holding in her hands dropped to the floor and shattered to pieces. Frost materialized around her as the air grew colder and colder. Immediately, Anna reached out and latched her hand on Elsa's. It was enough to make the frost dissipate, but even then the chill remained hanging in the air.

"I'm so sorry," Frodo said, "I didn't mean to offend you…"

"Oh no, you're fine," Anna said, "Right, Elsa?" Elsa, however, could only give a weak nod, which as far as she was concerned was only a physical lie.

"Anyway, moving on," Anna said, changing the subject, "That must have been quite a party!" With that, the conversation went forth along its course, with Anna contributing more and more this time, but Elsa spoke not a word. Only one thing remained on her mind.

_Sixty years…SIXTY YEARS! How is that possible?_

* * *

After that, the rest of their teatime conversation went by uninterrupted by any unintended manifestation of Elsa's powers, while the subject drifted away from Bilbo to other things of admittedly trivial importance. For the most part, Anna and Frodo took up most of the talking, their topics ranging from favorite childhood memories to trading information about games to play in their spare time, including one called 'conkers' that Bilbo had taught to Frodo in his childhood. Elsa, however, remained utterly silent regardless of how often Anna attempted to nudge her back in, while the air continued to be unnaturally cool in the little parlor. Fortunately, it didn't call for alarm, but it was enough to make Anna rub her goose-bump ridden arms for warmth, while Frodo tossed a couple more logs on the fire. This concerned the younger sister to no end; she too had been surprised by Frodo's revelation, but she could hardly imagine how much it affected Elsa. But how could she address it? She couldn't just stand by and let her sister stew away like that in her state of distraught…

The question lingered in the back of her mind for some time, but between that and talking to Frodo, she couldn't come up with a solution to it, and that troubled her to no end. She couldn't even keep track of the time, up until Elsa suddenly stood up and said, "I'm sorry, but my sister and I have to go."

"Huh?" Anna said, confused at first by this sudden declaration. But then she looked out through the parlor window, and saw the sky turning multiple shades of pink and orange as the sun descended towards the horizon, and she remembered the promise she had made earlier. "Oh, yeah," she said sadly, "It is getting kind of late…"

"Must you go so soon?" Frodo asked, "I'm sure you must have traveled very far, though I don't know the distance; perhaps you could stay and rest for the night, and then leave in the morning…"

"Thank you, but no," Elsa said as she walked over to the coat rack, "We must be gone at once."

Anna simply sighed and said to Frodo in a hushed voice, "Well, thanks for having us on such short notice; I'm just sorry we have to go so soon. Royal duties, you know what I mean?"

"Of course," Frodo replied, "I've promised some friends that I would meet them at the Green Dragon pub, anyway. But are you sure you won't need any provisions?"

"Oh no, we're good," Anna smiled, "_Trust _me. We've got it covered."

Elsa called for Anna again, and she followed her older sister through the rounded doorway obediently, but with much reluctance into the refreshing warm evening air (relative to the chill that lingered throughout their visit, anyway).

"Thank you," Elsa said as she draped her blue cloak over herself, "For allowing us into your home on such short notice."

"You're welcome," Frodo said, "Shall I expect to see you again?"

A pause hung in the air before Elsa said anything. She turned away as she spoke. "No," she said, with a definitive air of finality. "Goodbye, Frodo Baggins."

After Anna gave Frodo more of her gratitude for his hospitality, the two sisters went on their way back down the road they came—but Anna took a moment to look back as the small hobbit quietly stepped back into Bag End, closing the door behind him in the growing distance between them.

"So, he was nice…," Anna quietly remarked to Elsa, "…guy makes a mean little cup of tea, am I right?"

Elsa, however, didn't even so much as look at her, keeping her gaze on the ground and her mouth closed. It remained that way as Anna followed Elsa down the hill and over the road through Hobbiton, where far less hobbits were out on the streets while golden lights began shining from the windows of the hobbit-holes in response to the dimming light outside. They continued on, passing a mill and crossing a bridge over a gently flowing river, and there the occurrence of hobbit-holes ceased altogether, indicating they had passed the village limits. But even then, they didn't stop walking on until the sun had gone out of the sky, though its light still shone over the horizon, and all they could see of Hobbiton was a small cluster of yellow lights nestled against the shores of a small lake.

They kept going, and Anna asked, "How far do we have to keep walking?"

"The further from civilization we are," Elsa explained, the sound of her voice a welcome reprieve from the silence, "The better off we'll be; we can't risk anyone seeing the Star Gem once we go home."

Hours passed on by mercilessly, and Elsa redirected their journey off of the road and deep into a thick patch of forest just on the wayside. Here, Anna had to make sure she had to stay close to Elsa in order to keep from getting lost in this especially dark place where the light only barely broke through the trees.

But then, once they reached a small clearing where the light came through all the way, she had to stop in her tracks. She knew what she needed to say.

"Elsa," she said, "I'm sorry I forced you to do this…and I'm sorry we didn't get to see Bilbo. I just…"

To her surprise, Elsa stopped at the sound of her words, and turned to face her. "No," she said, "I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry to him…"

"Elsa?"

"Sixty years, Anna," Elsa said, "Sixty _years_ went by in this world, but only eight months went by for me back home in Arendelle…."

"There's no way you could have known that…"

"I should have!" Elsa cried out, "But I don't understand how it all works! Only a few years went by for me the last time I was in Middle Earth, but only four months had passed by in Arendelle. What difference would eight months there make for here? Apparently a LOT, and now…" she fell to her knees, sighing out loud in the growing moonlight, "He's an old man, now…I wasted his years."

Carefully, Anna stepped forward. "You cared about Bilbo a lot, didn't you?" she asked.

Elsa gave the slightest of nods. "He…he was the first person in this whole world whom I felt understood me…everyone else valued me as a weapon. He valued me as a person…he was like a dear brother to me. I should have come back sooner, but I couldn't."

Anna nodded with new understanding.

With a deep breath, Elsa stood back up onto her feet. "But I can't change what's happened," she said. "Give me the Star Gem, Anna. We're going home."

Anna nodded. "One magic glowing rock of teleportation coming right up," she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the velvet bag. Loosening the string, she looked inside and…suddenly became very concerned.

"Um, Elsa," she said nervously, "Is this normal?"

"What are you talking about?" Elsa asked.

"Well…" She held the open end of the bag towards her sister, who stepped forward to take a look. They both looked inside to find that the once pure white gleam of the Gem had dimmed. Now, it looked as though grey smoke had been trapped inside the gem, swirling around in thick, billowing clouds.

Elsa grasped and pulled the Gem out of the bag, holding it in the tip of her fingers as she inspected it. "What on earth…?" she whispered.

"Is it broken or something?" Anna asked.

"I don't know," Elsa said, "But we should try it anyway, just in case. Hold my hand, and think of Arendelle."

Anna did so, and Elsa grasped the dim Star Gem tightly in her hand, closing her eyes. Closing her eyes, Anna concentrated her thoughts on Arendelle, thinking of its snowcapped mountains, rugged fjords, the castle, and of Kristoff, especially. They stood still for a few moments, waiting, listening…but the night remained undisturbed. Not even a breeze trickled through the foliage.

Anna blinked open her eyes, and saw no golden shards pass by them at all. They still stood there in the forest clearing.

"Nothing's happening," Anna reported.

Frustrated, Elsa let go of Anna's hand and looked at the Star Gem more closely, confused. "No, no, no, no! How is this possible? It should have worked! We should be back home by now…"

Snowflakes yet again began to dance around them in a twisting spiral.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Anna said, "Maybe it just needs…"

"Anna, I _can't_," Elsa said, "I don't know what's wrong with it, and I don't know how to get it to work."

"Wait…you mean we're stuck here?" Anna asked.

Elsa glanced over at her for a moment, with panic in her eyes. She didn't say anything else.

The situation began to dawn on Anna with unprecedented speed, and she realized what price her desires had cost her. The fjords and the northern lights: gone. The castle, the guards, and all the servants: gone. Winter days sledding down the slopes and winter nights spent by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa: gone. Olaf and Sven: gone. And Kristoff…tears began to well in her eyes. She never gave him the chance to hear her answer…How could she have done this? This was all her fault…

But then, an idea came to her, and everything seemed to get a little brighter with it.

"Of course!" she said, "We just need to find someone who knows how to fix it, like Gandalf!"

"Gandalf is a wandering vagabond," Elsa said, "There's no way we'd be able to find him quickly…not without arousing unwanted attention, anyway."

"So, that just leaves…oh, I got it!" Anna declared, "That elf guy from Rivendell!"

"Lord Elrond?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah, he'd know about this kind of thing, right?"

"Anna, Rivendell would take us _months_ to travel to," Elsa said.

"Do we have any other options?" Anna asked. "Besides, we probably have plenty of time to get there; what's a couple of months here to Arendelle, anyway? Don't answer that question, because I'm no expert."

Elsa's response came sooner than she expected. "Alright," she said, "we're going to Rivendell. But we have to move swiftly; there's probably a town further down the road that we can pick up provisions in."

"Don't you think we should find somewhere to rest for the night?" Anna suggested, "Heck, we could just—" But then she found herself shushed by Elsa. Nearly about to protest, she saw the searching look in Elsa's eyes as she peered around the forest, the same look she had worn before the Phantom launched its attack.

"What's wrong?" Anna whispered, but Elsa didn't answer. With one hand she clutched the dim Star Gem as tightly as possible. The other she raised into the air, and a glowing orb of ice materialized within her fingers.

"Get behind me, Anna," she instructed under her breath, and Anna complied accordingly, watching the shadows with new fear.

Something snapped somewhere. The two spun around at the noise, but found nothing. This did nothing to abate the rising panic in Anna's heart. She was on high alert, attentive to every possible movement in the shadows. Now she started to understand what Elsa meant when she had said there was danger to be found…

Suddenly, a thick crunching sound came from behind them. The two sisters spun around again, and Anna yelped at what she thought was going to be some horrific creature intent on devouring them…

Instead, they found themselves looking into the twinkling grey-blue eyes of an old man with a long silvery beard and bushy eyebrows who held a twisted, gnarled wooden staff in one hand. He wore long, flowing grey robes and a blue, pointed hat with a broad rim.

The ice orb that Elsa held dissipated immediately. "Gandalf?" she said.

Anna's fear turned into surprise. Here was an actual figure from Elsa's adventures…and a real, live wizard to boot! She became very excited, having at last met a professional wielder of magic.

"Elsa? I never thought I'd…Why have you come back?" Gandalf asked, "It's not safe to be here at all!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Elsa apologized.

"Yeah, it was my fault," Anna admitted, stepping out from behind her, "It's kind of a long complicated story…Oh, I'm Anna, by the way, Elsa's sister."

"You must return to your world at once," Gandalf declared, "Both of you."

"I know, and we're trying!" Elsa said, "But the Star Gem won't work!"

"What do you mean?" Gandalf said.

"Take a look for yourself," Elsa said as she handed him the Gem, "Maybe you can fix it."

Gandalf took the Gem in his gnarled hands and looked over it carefully, turning it over and over again to look at each individual facet. The concern on his face, meanwhile, only seemed to grow.

"It worked when it brought us here," Elsa explained, "but now we can't get it to operate. Is there some spell we have to chant?"

Gandalf didn't seem to hear them, however, as incoherent words mumbled past his lips and into the night. However, Anna did manage to catch some of the things that he said, including things like "Not possible," and "intertwined destinies," and, "Could it be?"

All the same, however, his eyes glimmered with an odd sort of fear, and Anna felt that he was putting pieces to a puzzle that she couldn't understand together.

"Can you fix it?" Elsa asked.

Gandalf looked back up at the two of them with sadness in his eyes. "No, I cannot," he answered.

"Why not?"

"Because this may be part of something greater and more terrible than you can imagine…" he said. Then, he started to head through the foliage. "You must come with me at once," he said, "We have urgent business to attend to at Bag End."

"Bag End? We just left there!" Anna said.

"Then that will save us time on introductions," Gandalf replied, "and more time to sort out some answers! Hurry, the both of you!"

* * *

Several hours later, and after Gandalf had reined in his horse somewhere safe, the three of them were coming back up the stairs to Bag End in the dead of the night. Fortunately, the lights inside the hobbit hole still glowed golden, so it seemed that Frodo had returned from that 'Green Dragon' place that he said he was going to. Barely coming within a yard of it, Gandalf rapped the door urgently with the butt of his staff. There was no answer at first, and Gandalf met the delay with yet another rapping. Immediately the door swung open, and there stood Frodo again, looking very surprised to see them all again. "Gandalf, Elsa, Anna! What are you…?"

"Hi, Frodo!" Anna said, "We lied!"

Gandalf, however, leaned down and grabbed Frodo by the shoulder with that same desperate urgency.

"Is it secret?" he whispered, "Is it safe?"

At first, the hobbit seemed confused, but then he appeared to catch on as he let them all inside. Anna and Elsa, on the other hand, were still oblivious to what was going on, but they went along anyway, shutting the door behind them and going into the parlor, while Frodo went over to a chest nestled beneath the roots of the tree and began to rummage through the contents, pulling out some rolled up papers as he went.

"Gandalf, what's going on?" Elsa asked, but the wizard ignored her. At the sound of a crow outside, however, he whirled around and pointed his staff at the noise.

"Here it is!" Frodo said, and he held up an envelope sealed with red wax. Immediately, Gandalf snatched it out of his little hand and went to the fireplace where, to everyone's surprise, he huddled down and tossed it into the burning fireplace.

"What are you doing?" Frodo asked, obviously concerned over what would happen to the contents of the envelope. Anna and Elsa came over and watched, curious as to what Gandalf was trying to do.

Upon exposure to the heat, the parchment from which the envelope was made from began to blacken and wrinkle away as the small white tongues of flame scrambled over and devoured it, distorting its shape. Gandalf, meanwhile, grabbed a pair of tongs and pointed the business end towards it.

As the parchment burned, it peeled and curled away to reveal a small, plain gold ring nestled in the ashes, reflecting the fire's glow in its surface.

"Bilbo's ring?" Elsa said.

Everyone looked over at her in surprise, especially Gandalf. "You know about this?" he asked, "How?"

"He showed it to me before I came to you," she admitted.

"And you didn't tell me of it?" he asked.

"I—I didn't think it was important," she explained.

Grumbling, Gandalf turned his attention back to the fireplace, and plucked the ring out with the tongs. He held it in the air before turning to Frodo. "Hold out your hand," he instructed the young hobbit, with "It's quite cool" as an assurance.

Frodo did so, and the ring dropped into his palm. No sound of pain emanated from his lips. Anna, meanwhile, leaned in a little closer to see the ring.

"What can you see?" Gandalf asked, standing back up on to his feet, "Can you see anything?"

Frodo turned the ring over a couple of times in his fingertips, looking as Anna did for anything out of the ordinary. "Nothing," he said, "There's nothing."

Anna stood back upright, somewhat disappointed. What had this whole thing been about, anyway?

"Wait," Frodo said, and both Anna and Elsa leaned back in, curious to see what he had found. On the band, there appeared twisting, elegantly flowing letters of some strange language, written in finer strokes than any hand they knew capable, glowing like fire in the metal and casting red light across the walls of the room. Frodo told Gandalf of this, making the observation, "It's some form of Elvish. I can't read it."

Elsa and Anna turned to look at the wizard, whose back was turned to the three of them.

"There are few who can," he said in response, the tone of his voice as dark and serious as his expression as he turned to face them, "The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."

"Mordor?" Frodo asked.

_Mordor…_Anna had never heard the word before in her life, and yet somehow the sheer utterance of it filled her with an odd sort of dread. She looked over at Elsa, and there she could see a similar dread in her eyes as well.

Gandalf went on. "In the common tongue, it says,

_One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,_

_One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them._"


	3. Chapter 3: Sins of the Past

Elsa, Anna, and Frodo all stared silently at Gandalf, bathed in the glow of the fireplace, while the light of the glowing inscription on the Ring slowly faded away.

"I—I'm sorry, but I don't understand," Elsa said, "It's just a magic ring, isn't it? All it did was made Bilbo invisible; he told me that himself."

"I'm with Elsa," Frodo said, "What has this got to do with Mordor?"

"Yeah," Anna said, "And—who's this 'Mordor', anyway?"

Gandalf sighed and took a seat by the table, saying, "Perhaps it is best if I explain what this is all about; you have already become greatly involved in this affair, and you may have yet to play a greater part in all of this. Anna, Elsa, please take a seat. Frodo, if you could set about some tea, that would be most appreciated; this is going to be a very long story, and you will need to hear it too, for your sake."

The two sisters did as the wizard asked, grabbing some chairs to sit on while Gandalf pulled out an elaborately long pipe from within the folds of his robe and lit it with a match; Frodo, meanwhile, went into the kitchen and grabbed the kettle from earlier, but not before placing the Ring on the table, where it reflected their faces in its gold surface.

As a puff of smoke streamed past his lips and curled into the air, the wizard began his tale:

"Long ago, in the Second Age of this Middle Earth, the great Rings of Power were forged by the elven smiths, under the tutelage of a being named _Annatar_, the Lord of Gifts. The elves had made lesser rings as essays in the craft before, but with his guidance, they now achieved their masterpieces. Three of these Rings were given to the Rulers of the Elves, the wisest and fairest of all beings; seven were granted to the Dwarf Lords, the miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls; and nine were given to the race of Men. Within these rings was given the strength and will to govern the races of Middle-Earth."

"Well, that was nice of this Annatar guy to help them out like that!" Anna said, "That sounds like a lot of rings, though."

"It was not done out of charity," Gandalf said seriously, "All of them were deceived, for Annatar's true purpose was far darker, and his true name was _Sauron._"

At the sound of the name, frost spread from Elsa's hand, on to her chair and to the floor like wildfire catching on dry tinder. "HIM?" she said, "You mean…?"

"Yes," Gandalf said. "In the Land of Mordor, where he reigned supreme as the Dark Lord, Sauron forged in secret a Master Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, one to control all the other rings and enslave their bearers. To accomplish this, he imbued it with part of his own power, his own will, malice, and his desire to dominate every living thing. In doing so, he also augmented his own power, making him almost unstoppable. With this new strength, he began a campaign to spread his shadow across all of Middle-Earth and bring it under his control.

'But his attempt at conquest was not unopposed. A Last Alliance of men and elves marched towards Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. But the two armies, as valiant as they were, were no match for the power of the ring; Sauron would nearly have slaughtered them all, were it not for Isildur, the Prince of Gondor, who took up his father's broken sword Narsil, and cut the Ring from his hand, defeating the Dark Lord."

At that, a memory flashed before Elsa's eyes; she remembered seeing a mural in Rivendell of a human warrior slashing at the hand of a monstrous figure in black armor…and she remembered the gold ring upon the dark conqueror's hand…

"Thus, the Ring came to Isildur," Gandalf continued, "who claimed it for his own as part of the spoils of war, rather than casting it into the fire as he should have at that critical moment. But when he went traveling one year later, his party was ambushed by orcs; it is said that he placed the Ring upon his finger and dove into the river Anduin in an attempt to escape. But the Ring has a will of its own; it slipped off of his finger and sank to the bottom, revealing him to orc archers and betraying the young King of Gondor to his death. It became lost to the world for over two-thousand years, passing into legend, myth, and nearly out of mortal memory."

"Wait, so how'd it get out of the river?" asked Anna.

"It was found, of course," Gandalf answered, "The Ring came into the hands of a creature now known as Gollum, and gave him unnatural long life; for five-hundred years it consumed all of his thoughts and became his greatest desire, all as he slunk in the dark caverns and tunnels of the Misty Mountains."

"The Misty Mountains?" Elsa said, "We were there, when the goblins attacked us!"

"And Bilbo got it from Gollum, while he was separated from you there," Frodo said, a kettle full of hot water in one hand, "He told me the story; he said he won it in a game of riddles with Gollum, and in return he was shown the way out."

"Yes," Gandalf said, "But when Bilbo told me of how he got it, I suspected that he had…altered the truth, so to speak. I've encountered Gollum before, and from what it seemed, it appeared that Bilbo had inadvertently stolen it from him."

"No," Elsa said, "Bilbo would never do that, he'd…" but then she remembered how nervous Bilbo had been when she asked him about it back in Erebor. Further back than that, she remembered how he never did tell them how he got past the goblins…the truth of the matter was terrible to bear.

"An unusual alteration of his character up to that point, I agree," Gandalf said, "All the more evidence of the Ring's evil, right under our very noses."

"But how did you know that it was the One Ring?" Frodo asked.

"Personally I had my suspicions about the Ring after Bilbo's birthday party, when he pulled his little prank on everyone. However, I have just confirmed its true nature here tonight; the inscription you have all seen was a secret, as Isildur himself wrote in the Gondorian records, that only fire could tell."

He took a long puff from his pipe before he continued. "For sixty years, the Ring lay quiet in Bilbo's keeping, prolonging his life and delaying old age. But no longer; evil is stirring in Mordor. The Ring has awoken…it's heard its master's call."

"Huh?" said Anna, "I thought you said this 'Sauron' was destroyed by Essel..door…am I saying it right? Never mind; he was killed, right?"

"No," Gandalf said. His voice became reduced to a harsh whisper, "Sauron's body was destroyed, but his spirit endured. His life force was bound to the Ring, and the Ring survived. Thus, Sauron has returned; he first took up residence in Dol-guldur, deep within Mirkwood Forest, but those of us in the White Council drove him out before he could destroy any opposition in the north. But now, he has returned to his dominion of old. His orcs have multiplied, and his fortress of Barad-dûr has been rebuilt in Mordor, but he needs only this Ring to cover the land in a second darkness. He is seeking it, always seeking it, all his thought his bent on recovering it. The Ring yearns above all else to return to the hand of its Master. They are one; the Ring and the Dark Lord."

He then looked up at all three of them, with a pleading look in his eyes. "He must _never _find it," he whispered.

"Okay, then," said Elsa, "…Just makes sure it stays hidden."

A small snort came from Anna at that moment.

"What was that about?" Elsa asked.

"Oh nothing! Nothing at all!" Anna said. However, Elsa saw through the pretense, and caught on to what Anna had inadvertently implied.

"I think a little gold ring," she defended, "would be far easier to keep secret than…" she waved a wisp of airborne frost around in her hand for a moment, "…that."

"I agree," Frodo said, plucking the Ring off the table. "It's simple enough; we put it away, keep it hidden, and never speak of it again. After all, no one else knows it's here, do they?" He looked towards Gandalf for some form of reassurance, but when Elsa looked over at the wizard, all she could see in his countenance was worry and regret.

"Do they, Gandalf?" Frodo asked again.

Gandalf took a deep sigh before he spoke again. "There is one other who knew that Bilbo had the Ring," he said.

"Gollum?" Anna said.

"Yes. The Ring may treacherously abandon those who bear it, save for its true master, but those who bear it never abandon it. Desperate to reclaim the Ring for himself, Gollum dared to wander out of the caverns and tunnels of the Misty Mountains, and searched for it as far as the streets of Dale, following whispered tales of our company, and in turn becoming the subject of whispered tales himself. The Wood Elves at first were able to track him in the forests of Mirkwood, but then the trail disappeared there. Believe me; I searched all of the Wilderland for Gollum, along with one of the best hunters and trackers this age has ever seen. We did find him…but we learned that he had wandered into Mordor itself, as all evil things had been drawn there by the Dark Power, and that the enemy found him first. I don't know how long they tortured him, but amidst the endless screaming and inane babbling they discerned two words…words that Bilbo had foolishly given Gollum himself when they first met…'_Shire' _and '_Baggins_'."

A brief pause ensued as the impact of Gandalf's information sank in. The air grew frigid as Elsa looked over at the now clearly terrified young hobbit. The memory of being told as a little girl that Fear itself would be her enemy came back to her vividly, but now for Frodo, it was as if the mob was already marching to the doors…

He suddenly stood and thrust the Ring, held in the tips of his fingers, towards the wizard. "Take it, Gandalf!" he said.

Gandalf, however, stood up and backed away from his outstretched hand, like a dog at the sight of the cruel master's fearsome whip. "No, Frodo," he said.

"You _must _take it!"

"You cannot offer me this Ring!"

"I'm giving it to you!"

"DON'T TEMPT ME, FRODO!" the wizard shouted at last, cowing Frodo back into his seat. "I dare not take it," he said in a hushed voice. "And _no one_ should dare take it," he added, explicitly looking at Anna and Elsa, "not even to keep it safe. Understand, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good…but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine. That is its ultimate curse; to take those who would be the master, and turn them into its slave."

"But it cannot stay in the Shire!" Frodo protested.

"No, no it can't," Gandalf agreed.

At those words, Frodo seemed to turn quite pale as he stood up. He walked away from the table and leaned against the fire place, staring into the flames, lost in contemplation and terror.

Elsa and Anna, meanwhile, leaned in towards Gandalf. "What does any of this have to do with us?" Elsa asked him in a voice quiet enough for Frodo not to overhear them.

"Tell me," Gandalf asked, "How was it that you returned?"

Elsa then went on to tell him of how she had kept the chest of Star Gems locked away inside of the Castle Dungeon, and of how she found Anna there. She then went on to tell them of the Phantom that attacked them and led to their being back in Middle-Earth—however, she left out the part about having handled the Star Gem herself.

She concluded her story by asking, "Do you think Sauron sent the homunculus somehow?"

"No," he answered, "I don't. The type of magic you've just described to me has never been seen or heard of in Middle Earth…and I don't think that Sauron, or his predecessor, have ever developed such magic. Darkness cannot create; it can only distort or corrupt that which is already there to suit its purposes. Legend tells that the orcs and goblins were created that way."

"Then why are we stuck here?" Anna asked, "What's up with the smoke in the Gem?"

"I don't know," Gandalf said, "Perhaps your arrival was coincidence, but your being marooned here…I have the strangest feeling that perhaps it is connected to the Ring, somehow…but only time will tell."

A shuffling in the other direction alerted them to Frodo's return. They turned to face him, finding him still pale with dread, and Elsa couldn't blame him at all for that. In his blue eyes there dwelled confusion, fear, and the longing for guidance, something Elsa had seen too many times in the eyes of people around her, including her own parents.

"What am I to do, then?" he asked very quietly.

"You must leave," Gandalf answered, rising to his feet, "And leave quickly. You must be gone by morning."

"What about us?" Elsa asked as she stood up as well, "What do we do?"

"You'll be going with him," Gandalf answered. He leaned in close to her, saying, "He will need all the protection he will get, and your arrival is most serendipitous. Promise me that you will do all you can to keep him safe, Elsa."

She gave a slight nod in agreement.

"If Elsa's going with him, then so am I," Anna declared, "Come on Frodo, we'll help you pack!"

They set to work swiftly; it was a mad rush as Gandalf and Frodo grabbed a pack and started folding and stuffing his clothing into it; Elsa and Anna, meanwhile, went about gathering food from the pantry after being given their own sacks by Gandalf.

"Where are we supposed to go, by the way?" Anna asked as she poured in some apples.

"Get out of the Shire, and make for the village of Bree," Gandalf instructed.

"_Bree_?" Elsa said while wrapping up a loaf of bread, "Are you sure?"

"You know the place?" Anna asked.

"Yes, I've been there, before," Elsa admitted, "but only to sell ice…and coming in from the wrong direction. Wait a minute, what about you, Gandalf?"

"I'll be waiting for you at the Inn of the Prancing Pony," the Wizard explained.

"And the Ring will be safe, there?" Frodo asked.

"I do not know," Gandalf admitted, "I don't have any answers. I must speak with the head of my order. He is both wise and powerful; he will know what to do."

"Sounds like a plan!" Anna said.

Sooner than Elsa had expected, they were just about ready for their journey.

"You'll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you," Gandalf advised to Frodo as he helped him slip on his jacket and a traveling cloak, "That name is no longer safe outside of the Shire. Travel only by day, and stay off the road."

"We can cut across country easily enough," Frodo mused. He grabbed a walking staff and slipped the Ring into one of his pockets.

"That's all fine," Elsa said as she put on her cloak, "Just make sure you don't disappear on us."

"I won't put on the Ring, I promise," Frodo said.

"It's not that," she explained, "Bilbo could appear and disappear without the Ring; I could hardly keep track of him, sometimes."

They heard Anna struggle with something in the kitchen, and Frodo went to go help her out. In that brief instant of solitude, Elsa turned to Gandalf, saying, "He's taken this all very well, for someone who's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders…and especially for someone so small."

The wizard gave her a comforting smile. "Hobbits really are amazing creatures, Elsa," he said, "You can learn all that there is to know about them and their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you. I would advise learning from them along the way."

Suddenly, they heard foliage rustling and crackling somewhere. The two of them looked around to see an open window, where some of the flower bushes were waving against the wind, as if on their own accord.

_How long has that been open? _Elsa wondered.

"Get behind me," Gandalf said to Elsa, who did so accordingly. The wizard grabbed his staff and pointed the end of it towards the window. Frodo and Anna meanwhile had come and now watched with fearful eyes from the kitchen entrance.

Slowly, the Wizard paced towards the window, his eyes fastened on the bushes like a cat prowling for mice. He took another small step and paused, searching for some sign of activity—but whatever sat hidden out there, it seemed, was not particularly good at hiding. At another rustling of the bushes, Gandalf jabbed his staff forward into the brush. Someone barked out in pain at the jab; in a move like lightning, the wizard reached down into the flowerbed, grabbed the concealed, and with great strength threw him on to the table. But to Elsa's surprise, it certainly wasn't an orc.

"CONFOUND IT ALL, SAMWISE GAMGEE!" the wizard yelled at the hyperventilating blonde hobbit lying flat on the table before him, "Have you been eavesdropping?!"

Seeing who had been hiding out all this time, the others relaxed somewhat and came forward, though they didn't say a word during the interrogation.

"I haven't been dropping no eaves, sir, honest!" Samwise insisted, "I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you'll follow me!"

"A little late for trimming the verdes, don't you think?" Gandalf questioned.

"I heard raised voices—"

"What did you hear?" the wizard demanded, "SPEAK!"

"N-n-nothing important!" Samwise stammered, "That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, a Dark Lord, and something about the end of the world, but—please, Mister Gandalf, don't hurt me! Please don't turn me into anything…unnatural!"

At that plea, a strange look glimmered in Gandalf's expression.

"No…" he said as he briefly glanced over in a grinning Frodo's direction, "Perhaps not." He leaned in close and whispered, "I have a better use for you!"

* * *

Several more hours passed, and by the time that dawn began to creep upon the Shire, the trio were all fully set to depart (in spite of the fact that none of them had much time for sleep). Before they walked out the door, Elsa had abandoned the dress she had worn for the court meeting, and once again conjured up for herself a dress more suited for traveling in the countryside; seeing how it would be dead weight, she decided to leave the previous dress behind at Bag End.

As they followed Gandalf out of the door, Elsa took one truly final look at Bag End; at last she had seen it for herself, and while it felt good to enter through the door again, she only wished that her old friend had been there to see them off. She would have lingered there for a greater duration, were it not for Anna and Gandalf's insistence.

Now, this was goodbye to the last trace of Bilbo she would see. She was certain of that.

Outside, all was still quiet in the streets of Hobbiton; after Gandalf picked up his horse, they made their way down the path, careful as not to alert anyone to their presence. The wizard took them eastward for a bit, before they heard the sound of small footfalls behind them. They turned, and saw as Samwise, lugging a hefty travel pack clanging with pots, pans, and other cooking-ware on his spine, shuffling in their direction. "I made it, Mr. Frodo!" he huffed, exhausted by what must have been a long distance run, "I got everything we'll need, just like you said!"

"Good job, Sam," Frodo congratulated, "Did you get my letter to Merry?"

"Yes I did, Mr. Frodo," Sam heaved.

"Who's Merry?" Anna asked.

"Meriadoc Brandybuck, a cousin and good friend of mine," Frodo said, "I've asked him to watch Bag End for me while I'm gone."

"Ain't no Sackville-Bagginses going to get that place while he's there, no sir!" Sam added.

"Very well, but we need to get moving," Gandalf said, "Come along, Samwise, keep up!"

They moved on, following the same path that Elsa and Anna had taken the previous night, all the way out to the distant woods. Hobbiton was far behind them by the time dawn asserted itself more fully, lost behind the thick groves of old trees that they now found themselves in. All that time, they hadn't said a word, save for Gandalf as he commanded the lagging Sam to catch up to them.

"Be careful, all of you," Gandalf warned them as they went along, "The Enemy has many spies in his service; birds, beasts…Elsa, I would suggest using your talents to a bare minimum along the way, so not as to attract attention."

Alerted to this fact, Elsa and Anna glanced around through the forest, now wary of such spies. Elsa remembered the skirmish she had with the Phantom, and now regretted having used her powers in broad daylight…

Stopping in his tracks, Gandalf turned to Frodo and asked, "Is it safe?"

Frodo pressed his hand against a certain pocket of his in confirmation.

At that, Gandalf knelt down and warned, "Never put it on, for the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power. Always remember, Frodo, the Ring is trying to get back to its Master. It _wants _to be found."

With that, the wizard gave some final farewells, climbed onto his brown horse, and galloped away before them with great speed; he vanished before the four of them even knew it. At his departure, the very world around them seemed to darken, the birdcalls in the very trees becoming something to be cautious of. They stood there, the two hobbits, the Snow Queen, and her sister, for some time.

Suddenly, a smile broke out on Anna's face. "Elsa," she gasped, "Do you know what this means?"

Elsa gave her a look of confusion. "What?" she asked.

Anna's smile only grew wider. "We're going on an _adventure_!" she beamed.

"You mean like in one of Mr. Bilbo's stories?" Sam asked.

"Probably," Frodo replied.

"We need to get moving," Elsa said at last. Agreeing with her, the group finally went forward, moving along as quickly as they could. However, Anna turned to Samwise as they went. "We never properly introduced ourselves," she said, "I'm Anna, and this is my sister, Elsa."

"Pleasure to meet the two of you," Sam said, "Truly it is. So, you really know Bilbo Baggins?"

"Well, Elsa does," Anna explained, "She actually went on that quest of his!"

"Really?" Sam asked, "But that was _years_ ago…how did you—how are you—?"

"It's a long and complicated story," Anna said, sparing Elsa the pain, "Trust me."

* * *

The hours passed on by as they walked along the way, the scenery around their path alternating from forest glades to open fields with little cottages nestled nearby. Their progress remained unimpeded by any overly curious or suspicious folk they passed by, in spite of the strange nature of the party at hand; it seemed to them that the policy around these parts consisted of "Don't stick your nose into someone else's business." They only stopped every once in a while for a quick bite to eat and to rest their feet before picking up and moving on again. However, it became clear to Elsa that Anna had never really been adjusted to walking long distances, seeing how she complained every once in a while of her sore feet. "How did you _deal _with this?" her sister begrudgingly asked, "I don't think I'll get used to this; I think I've already got a blister, somewhere."

"You will," Elsa assured her, "Trust me; it takes a while to get used to, though."

"Easy for you to say," Anna shot back, "Everything you wear is made of ice! You're kept cool all day!" Turning to the hobbits, she said, "And how are you guys walking around in your bare feet? How does that work?"

"We hobbits never need shoes," Frodo explained, "The soles of our feet are naturally tough, like leather, you might say."

"What about when it snows?" Anna asked, "What do you do, then?"

"It actually doesn't snow that often in the Shire," Frodo said, "And when it does, our feet are still warm."

"Sounds like you'd get along well in Arendelle," Anna remarked.

"Is that where you're from?" Sam asked, "Where is that?"

"A very, very long ways from here," Elsa replied, "You won't find it on any maps, and I can promise you that."

"Then how did you get here?" Sam asked.

"We have our ways," Anna said, "But that's our little secret."

"Don't you miss being so far away from home?" he asked.

"Of course we do," Elsa replied, "And that's why we're along for the journey."

* * *

They continued on their path until late in the afternoon towards some hills and mountains colored blue by way of their sheer distance away from the small traveling party. Trusting in Frodo's general knowledge of directions, they passed through a thick field of corn stalks before breaking into an open patch of golden wheat where a lone scarecrow served as a perch for three unassuming crows. A few paces further down, and suddenly they noticed that Sam had fallen behind. Elsa looked back with Frodo to see the other hobbit frozen in place, staring at the boundary between the wheat and the sprouts of corn.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.

"This is it," Sam declared.

"This is what?" Frodo asked.

"If I take one more step," Sam explained, taking in a deep breath, "It'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."

Elsa and Anna glanced at each other, and Elsa could see in her sister's eyes some empathy for him; no doubt she was thinking of the untold distance between them and Arendelle, right now.

Frodo, meanwhile, walked up to him, and gestured the way forward with his walking stick. "Come on, Sam," he encouraged him.

Very reluctantly, Sam put one foot ahead of the other, followed by the other foot, until he too found himself next to Frodo in the corn, who patted him on the back.

As they caught up with Elsa and Anna, Frodo remarked, "Remember what Bilbo used to say: 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"

Elsa could almost hear Bilbo's very voice as Frodo quoted him, and she could certainly testify of the wisdom therein.


	4. Chapter 4: Shadows in the Woods

As the days became weeks, the four travelers made great time as they made their way eastward. Fortunately for everyone, it seemed that Anna adapted very quickly to constant travel, as her complaints regarding walking became few and far between, replaced by claims that her feet had indeed grown tougher in response. She had yet to develop the strength necessary to keep walking without taking a break every often or so, however ("Why couldn't we just get _horses_?" she asked more than once).They did find a bit of reprieve in the form of a small pond along their path; despite her claims, Anna quickly shed her shoes to dip her feet in the chill of the water, sighing gratefully. Elsa on the other hand declined, deciding it would be wise to keep her distance. She noticed that the hobbits viewed the pond with a certain degree of dread, staying as far off as it was possible. She could sense a notable difference between Sam and Frodo, however; with Sam, his seemed to her like the kind of dread that a small child who hadn't learned to swim had, but with Frodo, it appeared to be something deeper… She wondered how polite it would be to ask what their reasons were, but chose not to, leaving the question behind when Anna dried her feet off and declared her readiness to move on.

They traveled further on, and late into a cool summer evening at the end of a very long day of walking, the party stopped for a much needed rest deep within the woods; while Sam set to work building a small fire, Elsa stood watch, gazing around the woods for signs of trouble, while Frodo and Anna leaned back against the large branches of the tree nearest to them, sighing with relief yet again. As soon as the fire was properly kindled, sausages and other meats sizzled in a heated frying pan, filling the immediate air with their mouthwatering scents as they cooked. In the meantime, Frodo and Sam puffed smoke through those long pipes of theirs; they offered some 'pipe-weed', as they called it, to the two sisters, but Elsa refrained, sensing something unhealthy about them, as did Anna.

Twiddling her bare toes in the welcome cool of fresh air, Anna sighed and wondered aloud, "Did anyone bring a lute or guitar, or something?"

"I'm afraid not," was Frodo's reply.

"Shame," she sighed, "I could use a good song, right now; if only Kristoff were here..."

"Who's Kristoff?" Sam asked.

"Her boyfriend," Elsa said, "They've been dating for several months now," and then she added with something of a smile, "Though it feels like years."

Anna simply rolled her eyes at her sister's jest. "He's a good singer; give him a lute and he'll come up with a good song like _that_," she said, snapping her fingers. "I just wish I could remember the words to them—actually, now that I think about it, most of it was improvising, but that just means he's REALLY good at composition or..."

"I know a good couple of songs meself," Sam said, "But they're only good for the pub…and I'm afraid I'm not a very good singer."

"Oh, now that can't be true!" Anna protested.

"Yes it is," Sam said sadly and quietly, "If I were, I'd have Rosie's affections a long time ago…"

"Who's Rosie?" Elsa asked.

"Oh! No-nobody important…" Sam stammered.

"Rose Cotton, one of the barmaids at the Green Dragon" Frodo said, "Sam's had eyes for her for a long time, now."

"Mister Frodo!" Sam said, his cheeks turning bright red with embarrassment.

"What's she like?" Anna asked.

"Oh, well, she's…just absolutely wonderful," the blonde hobbit admitted, "But I can't even so much as talk to her; I'm no good for her…"

"Don't put yourself down like that!" Anna told him, "You won't get anywhere talking that way. When we're done and you go home, Mister Gamgee, the first thing I want you to do is to go up to that girl and tell her how you feel about her, and ask her out to dinner, or something. Promise?"

"But what if she—"

"_Promise?_" Anna said more forcefully. Sam turned to Frodo and Elsa with a look of pleading, but all they had to offer were sympathetic shrugs. Elsa for one knew from personal that Anna would refuse to back down until she got results; the hobbit had no chance against her tenacity.

Clearly knowing defeat when he tasted it, Sam sighed, "Promise. But how am I s'posed to tell her?"

"Well, sometimes you just have to let the words out and wear your emotions on your sleeves," Anna said, "Sometimes it'll all come out in a great big song, and the other person will join in—other people might join in too, maybe even the animals—and it'll be all great and wonderful with everyone dancing and singing…and when you're done, you just kind of forget that what happened, no one will talk about it, and everything goes on like normal…like nothing ever happened to begin with…"

The hobbits stared at her in utter confusion and disbelief. Elsa, meanwhile, thought about what Anna just said, and realized that, yes, things like that really did happen in their world…and yet that had never quite happened to her during her first sojourn here. What was up with that?

"Well, anyway, that's how it is in our land; totally normal" Anna said, and then flipped onto her side towards the fire. "But seriously, I could use some music right now…if only there was some way that you could listen to music anywhere and anytime you wanted…like if you had a tiny band of minstrels with you all of the time, and you could carry them in a teeny tiny box that you could fit in your pocket—oh, but you were the only one who could hear it because you had a pair of…"

Before she could go on, a strange, small sound began lilting in through the trees and above the chirping of the insects. The four of them looked around, curious as to what source it came from. Elsa realized it was a chorus singing, almost as if in response to Anna's desires—but who sung it? The voices were all perfectly in tune as they sang a melody that, while heavenly to say the least, was heavily tinged with somberness.

On hearing the song, Frodo sat up from his perch. After a few moments, he smiled.

"Wood elves!" he said.

"_Elves?_" Anna said, sitting upright in a bolt of motion, "Really!?"

"Can we go see them, Mister Frodo?" Sam asked, clearly as excited as Anna was.

"Actually," Elsa started, "I think it would be better if we try to—"

Her three other companions, however, had already taken off, leaving her behind; the hobbits slipped through the forest undergrowth with little difficulty while Anna followed close behind, nearly tripping and falling and getting bits of twigs and leaves caught on her dress as she went. She turned around briefly to wave at Elsa. "Come on!" she called out, "What are you waiting for?"

Elsa could only sigh before running after them.

* * *

The light of day quickly diminished into the faint light of the evening; the resulting darkness only added greater difficulty in avoiding the odd stone or tree root, resulting in one too many trips and stumbles along the way. Elsa did, however, succeed in catching up with Frodo, Sam, and Anna, but only because they ducked behind a fallen log crawling with vines of ivy. She quickly rejoined them, glad for the opportunity to catch her breath—then she looked up, and continued to do so in quiet awe.

Before them stretched a procession of about eleven or so elves dressed in long, flowing robes, traveling either on horseback or on foot while carrying banners and streamers. A soft light shone around their elegant figures, illuminating the trees nearby, while their voices projected their beautiful, yet bittersweet song throughout the forest as they sang in perfect unison. They took no notice of the four who watched from afar.

The sight stirred many memories from the depths of Elsa's mind; she thought back to her days living in the forest cavern, and of how often she had espied these people wandering through her part of the woods…knowing the things she knew now, she smiled at how she once believed them to be angels with pointed ears. Getting out and seeing the rest of the world probably had been indeed a good thing for her.

She looked over to see Anna's eyes alight with wonder, while her jaw hung slightly agape. She started to move forward as if in a trance, but Elsa's quick tug on her skirt pulled her back down, telling her not to do so.

"Where are they going?" Anna asked, "Why do they sound so sad?"

"They're going to the harbor beyond the White Towers," Frodo answered, "To the Grey Havens."

"They're leaving Middle Earth," Sam said, "never to return."

"Why?" Elsa asked, "Why would they do that?"

"I've heard it said that across the Western Sea is a place called the 'Undying Lands'," Frodo said, "A place of great beauty and wonder where they will never fade away."

"I don't know why," Sam noted, "but it makes me sad,"

Anna, meanwhile, leaned over and whispered into Elsa's ear, "You think maybe it has to do with…you-know-who?"

After clearing away the confusion at the statement, Elsa realized what her sister referred to…and it did make sense, after what Gandalf said concerning the Shadow. With this in mind, she watched in a somber reverence as the elves marched away in the woods, their melancholic lament fading away with them. It remained in her thoughts as they returned to camp, ate dinner, and struggled to fall asleep with some 'dirty great root' (as Sam put it) pushing into their backs.

* * *

Dawn came upon them sooner than they were prepared for it, and the heat of the summer sun bore down on the travelers as they pushed their way through a field of tall stalks of corn. Thus far, it proved to be the more difficult part of the journey, with the very ears proving to be a veritable barrier; with Anna following close behind, Elsa felt the temptation to simply freeze the whole field and shatter them to open a path, but no, that would be unfair to whoever owned said field. Besides, she had to take into account the element of stealth, so even then it was out of the question.

The two of them broke out of the vegetable jungle and into a trail cut through the field, with no small amount of gratitude. "Ick!" Anna said as she frantically brushed off insects and bits of plant matter clinging off of her dress, "the sooner we get to Bree, the better."

"What, you don't like the outdoors?" Elsa said.

"No, it's not that," Anna said, "I'm just saying I probably could've picked a better dress to go traveling in; this one's getting filthy!"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before trying to steal a Star Gem."

"Look, Elsa," Anna said, "I'm sorry about that, but I swear, right before I was going to, I decided not to. I didn't mean for…hey, where's Frodo and Sam?"

Elsa whirled around, realizing just then that they had been alone the whole time. How could she have been so foolish? There should have been some other path they could have taken where hobbits were less likely to disappear…

Then her ears detected the now all too familiar clanging of pots and pans further down the path, along with voices. She bolted down the path, with Anna following behind her. Her fears were alleviated when, coming around the bend, they came upon the two hobbits just a short distance away.

"There you are!" she sighed as she and her sister caught up with them, "Don't scare me like that again! I thought we'd lost you!"

"You and Sam, both," Frodo replied.

"Well, let's not let that happen again," Anna said, "My sister can be a bit paranoid, sometimes."

"Huh?" Elsa said.

"Well, you did kinda…that whole _thing_ a while ago…" Anna reminded her vaguely.

"We're still in the Shire," Frodo said, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Suddenly, they heard something rustling through the corn, and before Elsa could do anything, WHAM! Two somethings crashed into Sam and Frodo, throwing them to the ground. Elsa leaped into action, and threw one of them off of Sam, with an arm raised and ready to strike—only to find a young blonde hobbit lying in a pile of cabbages, carrots, and other vegetables, staring up at her with brown eyes and wearing a dark green coat over a bright yellow waistcoat. He looked just as surprised as she was.

"What the—?" she started. She looked over and saw that the other one lying on top of Frodo was also a hobbit, this one noticeably younger than the others, who wore a coat of blue and a scarf around his neck.

"Frodo!" he said in a very thick brogue of an accent, "Look Merry, it's Frodo Baggins! We found him!"

"'Allo, Frodo!" said Merry, "Glad we caught up with you—by the way, who're your lady friends?"

Once he had gotten up on his two feet, Sam threw the other hobbit off of Frodo and helped his master onto his feet, and everyone dusted themselves off. The two new hobbits, in the meantime, started gathering their spilled produce back into the clutches of their arms, even handing some of it to a flustered Sam.

"Are you friends of Frodo?" Anna asked amid the commotion.

"Aye, I'm Peregrin Took, but everybody calls me Pippin," the younger hobbit answered, "Frodo's my second cousin once removed, and over there's Merry Brandybuck, my first cousin."

"What's the meaning of this?" Frodo demanded.

"You've been into Farmer Maggot's crop!" Sam exclaimed, his eyes having grown wide with fear at the sight of the vegetables in his arms.

"Who's Farmer Maggot?" asked Anna.

As if in response to her query, the noise of barking dogs burst out in the distance, along with some very angry shouting and cursing. Above the tassels of the corn, the long, claw-like blade of a scythe could be seen bobbing along towards them, menacingly.

"You need to return this right…" Elsa started to say as she and Anna turned back to the hobbits, only to find a pile of abandoned vegetables at the base of the stalks, the rustling of which betrayed the direction the four had escaped to. Anna glanced at her sister and shrugged before charging after them. Against her better judgment, this forced Elsa to follow close behind so as not to lose track of her wards. Their longer strides allowed them to quickly get the four scampering hobbits back within their sights, though they were surprisingly fast for how small they were.

"Don't know why he's so upset," Merry shouted back, "It's only a couple of carrots!"

"And some cabbages," Pippin added, "And those three bags of potatoes that we left here last week—oh, and those mushrooms the week before!"

"Yes Pippin," said Merry, "My point is, he's clearly overreacting! Run!"

Suddenly, the corn was behind them, and they were all back out in the open. The hobbits kept right on running, until Pippin, who had taken the lead, made a very sudden stop at what Elsa realized was a sheer drop. The other hobbits, failing to see this, all crashed into him and thus tumbled together down the slope. Anna came up close behind them, and teetered over the edge before to Elsa's shock she too toppled over and joined them in their fall. Elsa leaped after them, but instead managed to slide down the disturbed soil and through the forest undergrowth of ferns and such. She hopped over and around obstacles, until at last she found everyone in a dog-pile at the edge of a forest road at the bottom of the slope. Anna had already rolled off by the time Elsa came to her aid, while the others, still sore from their fall, struggled to get up.

"Is everyone alright?" Elsa asked as she helped Anna onto her feet.

"I'm okay," Anna said, dusting her clothes off, "And for the record, that was probably the best thing to happen all day!"

"Ooh, I think I've broken something," Merry groaned from under the pile—but all that had been broken was a thick carrot he pulled out from beneath him. Nevertheless, he still mourned the loss.

Once again the girls helped the hobbits back on to their feet. Immediately, Frodo turned to Merry. "What is the matter with you, Merry?" he asked, "I thought I asked you to watch Bag End for me while I was away!"

"Don't worry, the place is fine," Merry assured him, "The windows are all boarded up and the locks are all secure. Absolutely nothing to worry about!"

"Then why have you and Pippin come?"

"Well, as soon as I read your note," Merry explained, "I knew that you had to be up to something important, and we couldn't just let you go off alone! You need our help in some way on this adventure, so we're coming along!"

Elsa almost bristled at that. These two hobbits had no idea what they were getting into—but then again, neither did she for the most part. Besides, this journey and its goal had been meant to be kept secret. Above all, she didn't want to risk the well-being of any more people than necessary…had it been up to her, she would have been going on this mission alone.

There was only one thing for her to do.

"Look, we sincerely appreciate the concern," she said as gently as possible, "but we can't let you come along."

"Why can't we come?" Merry protested, "We just found a shortcut for you!"

"A shortcut to what?" Sam asked, clearly as nonplussed as Elsa was about the wannabe 'recruits'.

"Mushrooms!" Pippin exclaimed, scrambling to a small cluster of fungus blooming nearby.

Ignoring him, Elsa turned back to Merry. "I'm sorry" she said, "It's too dangerous to come along…you wouldn't understand."

"And who are you to tell us we can't join your party?" Merry questioned, "Who elected you to be the leader, anyway?"

"Well, she _is_ a…" Anna started, but Elsa shot her a warning glance before she could continue with her original thought. "…She's the most experienced one here, so…"

"I think we should get off the road," said Frodo, who had wandered a ways off from the group.

"Who are yeh, anyway?" Merry asked, "I don't recall seeing anyone like you two in the Shire."

"I'm Anna, and this is my sister, Elsa," Anna said, "We're friends of Frodo."

"Well, so are we, and cousins on top of that!" Merry said, "If anyone should be deciding who comes along, it should be Frodo!" He then sidestepped the two sisters, saying, "Frodo, we can come along, right? What do you say?"

But Frodo said nothing. His back turned to the rest of them, he seemed to be staring down the road, but why, none of them knew.

"Frodo?" Elsa asked.

A cold wind whipped up the leaves along the path, accompanied by something like a shriek in the distance…

Suddenly, Frodo came alive again. "Get off the road!" he shouted, "Quick!"

Elsa then remembered Gandalf's words, and quietly cursed herself for having forgotten the advice.

Scrambling to their feet in the confusion, the group made to the other side, carrying as much food as possible, while a strange fog crept in from down the road. Jumping off, they discovered a hollow beneath the thick, tangled and gnarled roots of a tree; here, the hobbits tucked themselves beneath it, but for Anna and Elsa, no room could be found.

All around them, the light began to grow dim, though no cloud hung above them in the sky. Elsa, however, remained stuck where she stood, unsure of what she should do.

"Elsa, go!" said Frodo, "We'll be fine!"

"No, no, I can't leave you!" she whispered, "I can stand guard, fight off whoever it is…"

"Elsa!" Anna's whisper came from behind. She turned to see her younger sister some distance further down the slope, gesturing to a growth of bushes thick enough for the two of them to hide in.

She turned back to the hobbits, still unwilling to move.

"Elsa, go!" Sam urged.

All her instincts, her past experiences, and her heart screamed out for her to stay, to fend off the encroaching enemy and protect the nephew of her friend…and it was only through great effort that she tore herself away to join her sister down below. The two of them crouched down beneath the leaves and laid down flat on their stomachs, their eyes fixed on what would happen far above them.

The hobbits jostled and whispered demands of silence from each other before finally settling in. By that time, the forest became empty of any birdsong and the cries of other animals. The air, meanwhile, grew cold…

"Elsa, are you doing that?" Anna whispered.

Elsa shook her head. As far as she could tell, this was nothing like the kind of cold that she could generate; this had a clammy feel to it…it was more like the cold of death than anything else.

A man dressed in black robes upon a black horse appeared almost out of nowhere, stopping right above the hiding place of the hobbits.

From her hiding place, Elsa couldn't make out much of the figure upon the horse; he sat hunched over like a gargoyle upon his steed, leering around the area. She could see the glint of armor beneath the rider's robes, but no face could be seen in the utter blackness beneath his hood, while the scabbard for a long sword hung by his side. The horse itself was an unseemly sight; the hair of its mane matted together in places and hung like a loose, tattered curtain over its neck, while a deformed tongue lapped over chapped lips nearby discolored skin. Beneath the armor and bridle, a red glimmer shone out from its otherwise dark eyes.

The hobbits, aware of the presence lurking above them, shuffled about nervously in their seats.

The rider, meanwhile, silently peered around at the surroundings, and Elsa could tell that it was searching for something.

Frost began to slowly grow from her hand.

The rider dismounted from his horse and wandered around for a bit. He seemed barely able to stand upon his shaky legs, while his body twitched involuntarily, but still remained the sense that it was searching…

In a dark flash, the black rider rushed over to the uppermost root right above the hobbits and knelt down; his hands clenched upon the wood, the scalloped armor upon them giving the impression of the talons of a bird of prey.

The rider peered around some more. A soft _sniffing_ sound whispered through the air…was he trying to _smell _them out? Below, the hobbits gazed upward in utter terror.

Elsa's heart drummed against her chest. She felt the warmth of Anna's hand upon her arm, but it was no use…she watched helplessly, praying for a miracle to happen.

Then, she saw Frodo's eyes go blank before shutting, as if in a daze…then she saw a flash of gold in his fingers…

_Frodo, no!_

The rider's head jerked to the left, suddenly aware of something.

Her own heart started drumming faster. Snowflakes danced above their hiding place.

Frodo seemed unaware of what happened. The Ring, meanwhile, lay pinched within the fingers of one hand, while the finger of the other lay poised to enter the space within it….

_Frodo, STOP! PLEASE!_

Sam reached across and clasped Frodo's shoulder, shaking him out of the trance and causing him to put away the Ring again.

While the Rider looked the other way, Merry threw a sack of vegetables in the other direction, its invisible landing punctuated by a thud.

A high-pitched shriek escaped undoubtedly from the Rider as he flew from the perch and back onto the saddle of the horse, upon which he galloped away.

They waited for the Rider to disappear from sight. Satisfied and relieved, Elsa stood and waved to the hobbits. They scrambled away from the hollow and followed them further down the hill with a vigor induced only by fear.

They didn't stop for some time, but by the time they did, the sun shone with its regular strength, the birds sang, and the air took on the natural heat of summer—but the effect upon the group still lingered as they clambered down. They collapsed, gasping and hyperventilating upon the ground, desperate to calm their nerves after the shock of the encounter.

"What was that!?" Merry asked.

"I don't know," Anna said, "But I hope we don't run into that guy again…" However, the look in her eyes held the knowledge that perhaps it was far from over.

To Elsa, what the Rider had been looking for was all too clear. She looked over at Frodo, pale with the shock of the encounter; she could see that he clutched something within his hands.

She turned to Merry and Pippin. "You two have to go home, now," she declared, "It's too dangerous to come with us."

"Elsa, no!" Anna said, "It's too dangerous for them to leave us!"

She realized the truth in Anna's words. If that Rider had been searching for them, there could be no question that it was looking for a hobbit…any hobbit, until it found the right one. They had no choice, now.

* * *

Thus it was that they gained two new members of their small party, but as night fell swiftly upon them, rest would have to wait for the travelers some other time. It seemed that Merry's ruse hadn't fooled their pursuer for long, and now the specter of the Black Rider continually haunted the forest, filling the space between the trees with the noise of that hideous shriek and the drumming of his steed's hoof-beats.

Though she remembered Gandalf's instructions not to travel during the dark, Elsa knew they had no choice but to keep moving to safety, so long as the Black Rider remained nearby. Out of all of the hobbits, Merry seemed to be the one most knowledgeable of the pathways through the old forest, and She, Anna, and the hobbits followed his lead through the trees. As the shadows grew stronger, they were forced to duck behind trees and bushes, peering around for a sign of their hunter. When no such sign could be seen, they all scurried forward to the next spot, keeping to the shadows as much as they could; the role of lookout fell primarily upon the hobbits, who, thanks to their shorter stature than the girls, could remain hidden while scanning the area.

At the moment, the duty had fallen upon Frodo, who scurried forward and peered around the forest from behind the thick trunk of a tree.

"Anything?" Sam asked.

"Nothing!" Frodo responded, and everyone moved from their hiding spot forward to his position.

"What is going on?" Pippin asked, his misguided steps betraying exhaustion.

"That Rider was looking for something," Merry said in a surprisingly serious voice as he caught up, "Or someone." He walked right past Elsa, and stared Frodo in the eye. The brown-haired hobbit could only look at him with an eyeful of worry.

"Get down!" Anna suddenly whispered. They all ducked at her word, crouching down behind the sparse shrubbery. Elsa looked straight ahead to where Anna had seen, and framed by the trunks of two trees in the distance, she could see the dark silhouette of the Rider and his horse yet again as the wind blew around them. He paused in the light of the moon before riding over the crest of the hill away from them.

Elsa wondered, how long did this horseman intend to stalk them? There had to be a way to elude him, somehow. Her mind sifted through multiple ways that she could use her powers to escape the Rider; perhaps she could raise a winter fog? No, that would possibly work to his advantage, instead; besides, there was plenty of fog around him, already. Or perhaps she could create snow dummies to bait him off? But how much time would that give them to get away before he caught on to the ruse? Probably not for very long, considering he had the advantage of a horse…

"Well?" Merry asked again.

"I have to leave the Shire," Frodo finally answered, "We must get to Bree."

"Why?"

"We need to get to Gandalf," Anna replied, "He said he'd meet us there."

"Right," Merry whispered, and Elsa found, much to her surprise, a glimmer of understanding, and something of calculation going on behind the hobbit's eyes. "…Bucklebury Ferry's not too far off from here. That'll get us to Bree fast enough."

"How do you know that?" asked Anna.

"My family's got a knack for the waterways," was Merry's brief reply, "Now follow me."

Conceding to the possibility of Merry knowing what he was talking about after all, the group shuffled away from the tree and trailed behind Merry onto a new path as fast as they could.

As if out of nowhere, the Black Rider suddenly strode right in front of them, that terrible shriek piercing the night. While the other hobbits managed to duck around the horse, the Rider did not seem to care; his focus, clearly, was upon Frodo, as he directed his horse to stand specifically in front of him.

Instinct took over as Elsa jumped to the fore between Frodo and the Rider. Caring not for the consequences, she swept her hand, and an arching wall of ice leaped up between them and the Black Rider in a semicircle, trapping him and his steed. With their pursuer occupied, the group bolted away through the underbrush, with Merry shouting to keep them all in line with the sound of his voice.

As they ran, Elsa heard the crash of ice being smashed by thick hooves. But still, she and Anna kept on running, overtaking the hobbits in their flight.

Breaking out of the trees, they entered open space and hopped a fence towards the banks of a river where there stood a small, thatched-roof cottage with a plume of smoke billowing out of the chimney. A single pair of glowing lamps and the light of the moon against the water revealed the presence of a dock, along with a single raft tied to the post.

They all sprinted across the dock and onto the raft, where Merry ordered Sam to start untying the ropes. Elsa took a moment to take a head count; she found Anna, Sam, Merry, Pippin…but where was Frodo?

Her answer came running along the path to catch up; somehow, Frodo had fallen clear behind. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten to make sure he had been with them the whole time!

"Wait!" she told Sam, "Wait up!"

Right behind him, the Black Rider came charging down the path after him.

Everyone called out after him, begging him to run as fast as he could. In spite of Elsa's own pleading, the raft split off from the dock, a gap of water growing wider between them.

"Run, Frodo!" she and Anna shouted.

His feet struck against the wood of the docks.

The gap opened up too wide between them. Elsa felt the need to freeze the water between them…

But the rider was gaining upon the hobbit. Barely a few feet separated him from the horse.

They had no other option.

"JUMP, FRODO!" she shouted.

And Frodo did, leaping across the water, and landing into Elsa's arms upon the raft.

The Rider, meanwhile, pulled the reins and brought the horse to a complete stop, just inches away from the edge of the dock.

As Merry used a staff to push them away, the Rider seemed to grow smaller with the distance. Knowing that they were safe, everyone breathed a little easier. Anna, however, had the audacity to say, "Ha ha!" in defiance.

A deafening shriek from the Rider frightened her back into submission, however, and they watched as the Rider turned around and galloped back towards the main road.

"How far to the nearest crossing?" asked Frodo.

"The Brandywine Bridge," Merry answered, "Twenty miles."

Anna, meanwhile, shuffled over to Elsa and whispered, "What's up with all the guys in black robes trying to kill us?"

Elsa could only shrug. She felt certain that these weren't connected to the Phantom from earlier…they had been looking for Frodo, after all.

If their hearts hadn't been chilled by the one horseman, they certainly became so, for across the river, they watched as two more riders, identical in their garb and color of horse, galloped past while their original pursuer rode to join them.


	5. Chapter 5: Mister Underhill

Not once did the group stop to rest after crossing the Brandywine River and landing upon the opposite riverbank. The knowledge of how close they were to Bree, the terrible encounter with the Black Rider, and the fact that more of his ilk were out there thrust them forward in their march through the dense forest. Anna didn't quite know what to make of it; never before had she come across the likes of that Rider, but the more she thought about it, the more she began to believe that she had just seen and felt the presence of pure evil…and that frightened her to no end.

Something else concerned her, though; while she had been hiding in the bushes with her sister, she watched as the Rider tried to smell out their companions (which grossed her out to no end), while she remained paralyzed in her place by fear. But during the close encounter, she noticed something glinting in Frodo's fingers before Merry threw the Rider off of their trail. She already knew it to be the Ring. No doubt the Rider had been after it…and in turn after Frodo. At that point in time, she wanted nothing more than to rush to the rescue, though the danger posed all too great a barrier. The distraction had relived her to no end.

She looked over at Frodo as they traipsed through the shadowy woodlands, and saw how white the splatters of moonlight made his face, the same as when the cloaked figure had come all too close to catching him. The poor little thing…it just wasn't fair for him to go through this. She remembered what Gandalf had said about not touching the Ring, but if it was up to her, then by golly Frodo wouldn't have to carry that thing around and be chased by those cloaked psychopaths. Heck, if it weren't for the risk, she'd be willing to do the job…but even then, she wondered what in the world that risk even was exactly. The wizard had said that it would 'take those who would be master and turn them into its slaves', but was it really that simple? Could this tiny gold ring really carry that kind of power…?

All she knew for certain, however, was that Frodo, along with the three other hobbits, were in terrible danger, and now they needed to get to Bree. Gandalf would be there, and after that…well, surely their problems would be solved by then.

Thunder suddenly grumbled overhead as heavy clouds rolled overhead, turning the night especially dark and forcing the group to travel especially close together so that they wouldn't lose each other. Soon afterward, heavy rain began to pelt the forest leaves and them as well, forcing Anna to draw her traveling cloak over her head—even then, she found herself getting uncomfortably soaked. Soon she began to _really _hope that Bree wasn't too far off.

"How much further?" she asked Merry over the pouring shower.

"Not too far," Merry answered, "Not too far at all!"

The young Brandybuck's words proved true, for sooner than she had anticipated they came to the edge of the forest, and across a dirt road quickly turned to mud, there stood a crude looking door of wood that stood between two heavy posts, flanked by a long stone wall. Yellow light came in from behind, escaping through the small cracks and openings of the gate. They also happened to reveal the location of a normal door in the gate's left side.

The group remained within the shadows of the trees, looking both ways before deciding to cross at last. Once it became clear that no enemy waited for them, they broke out of the forest as quickly as they could and crossed the road to the other side. Elsa came up to the front and pounded as heavily as she could, and fortunately it wasn't long before a peephole opened up, through which an old squinty-eyed man with a hooked nose and long strands of gray hair dangling out of his hood peered through suspiciously. "What do you want?" he asked in a rough, uncultured accent.

"My friends and are looking for the Prancing Pony," she answered.

The Gatekeeper shut the peephole, only for him to come through the entire door holding a small lantern in his hand as he scanned them over. "'Obbits?" he said, "Four 'obbits, and from the looks 'o them out o' the Shire. Strange travelin' companions for two young ladies! Wot business brings you to Bree?"

"We wish to stay at the inn" Frodo stated, "Our business is our own."

"A'right young sir, I meant no offense," the Gatekeeper said as he stepped aside to let them through, "It's my job to ask questions after nightfall. There's been talk of strange folk abroad; can't be too careful!" He shut the creaky door behind them once they had all shuffled their way through the gate. But they hadn't gone more than a couple paces before his voice called them out. "Oi, you in the blue," he called out to Elsa. "'You look familiar…'ave I seen yeh somewhere before?"

Cautiously Elsa turned, but keeping her hood over the important part of her face. "Oh, no, I can't say we've met," she answered.

"Strange," he said, "I could've sworn I saw someone just like you before…" He shook his head afterwards, saying, "Nah, it couldn't be. That was when I was but a wee lad, nigh sixty years ago... Sorry to keep you. Carry on!"

They walked a little faster after that, entering a village of tall cottages with thatched roofs, flanked with small pastures where the horses stood out in the rain. As they came within their vicinity, Elsa said to the others, "Alright, everyone remember to stay close; it's been…a long time since I've been to Bree, and much may have changed since then."

"As in sixty years?" asked Merry.

Elsa didn't respond.

The rain, however, only seemed to pour heavier and harder as they drew further into town, and in the dark of the night, it only made getting around harder than it should have been. The warm glow of firelight emanated through the windows of the cottages as well as from the lamps outside the doors, strengthening Anna's desire to get out of the rain-soaked streets; once or twice she had to exert herself to pull her foot out of an unexpectedly deep patch of mud…or at least, she hoped it was mud. How could she tell? However, the lights themselves possessed an unfortunate side effect in that their shadows cast upon all around them were long and full, making everything from the fronts of the buildings to the faces of the people beneath their hoods walking past them seem sinister and thoroughly unfriendly. The fact that the streets in the center of the village were quite crowded hardly helped at all. It would have been enough of their struggles were it just her and Elsa trying to find an inn, but now they needed to keep track of the four little hobbits and that proved to be quite the challenge in these narrow winding streets.

It was only a matter of luck that Elsa managed to notice that Pippin strayed in the path of a large horse pulling a cart, even more so that she plucked him out of harm's way in time. As she did so, she bumped into something, and turned to face a short bearded man with black hair turned stringy by the falling rainwater, holding a half-devoured carrot in his hand.

"Oh! Sorry about that, sir!" she said.

The man, however, only looked at her with wide eyes filled with confusion undiluted by any amount of alcohol…and for some reason Anna felt it would be better if she and Pippin kept moving and caught up with the rest of the group.

They kept wandering on and on through the streets, harsh, uncultured voices and leering glares all along the way. Growing more and more uncomfortable by the second, the swinging sign depicting a white horse rearing up on its hind legs became the greatest relief Anna could've asked for.

Following Elsa's lead, the group quickly filed through the door, and gratefully exchanged the miserable soaking chill of the night's rain for the serviceable dryness of the inn, removing their hoods and shaking off any excess wet from their hair. But Anna saw that this relief came with a price; the interior, lit by candlelight and the glow of a roaring fire, was of a lesser nature than any place she had frequented. Dirty, stale, and even rundown came to her mind as adjective's she'd use to describe the Prancing Pony—though granted she had never been in a common pub up until now. She did have to give it the benefit of the doubt; the place did seem like it once saw better days. The smell of ale and the smoke of pipe weed hung gratuitously in the air, while the firelight only dimly lit their surroundings, casting long shadows all around, though not as much as outside. Men rough and uncouth both in their garb and manner of speech and all sharing the common traits of broadness, brown hair, and a lack of stature, all sat around the counter or at the tables, some guffawing and chortling in various states of drunkenness with mugs of ale in hand, others chatting over plates of food, and others sitting quietly with puffs of smoke trailing from their pipes. In any normal situation, she would have been happy to chat with them, but these didn't seem like people she'd feel comfortable around, and the ambience certainly didn't help—but again, perhaps that was just her upbringing talking. They probably weren't as bad as they appeared for all she knew; she might as well give them the benefit of the doubt. There also seemed to be a few patrons who stood far shorter than the others, and bore far thicker beards than the rest; Anna felt inclined to believe that these were dwarves, and she felt quite excited at the prospect.

Behind the counter was the bartender, preoccupied at the moment with handing out mugs to the patrons. Elsa stepped forward to the counter, where there sat a large book next to an ink bottle and a set of feather quills. "Excuse me," she said to the man, as loudly yet as politely as she could over the raucous din.

The bartender turned around, showing off thick muttonchop whiskers that reminded Anna immediately of the owner of a certain trading post/sauna she'd met before—though he obviously wasn't anywhere close to the same stature. He seemed just as friendly as well, though she felt prompted to wonder if he would try to sell them anything aside from accommodations.

"Oh, good evening ladies!" he said in the same rough, uncultured accent they had been greeted earlier with, though with a lower pitch, "and welcome to the Prancing Pony, finest inn you'll find in Bree! What can I do fer such lovely and refined ladies such as yerselves—oh, if you're looking for accommodations, then we've got some nice, comfortable lodgings! Just let ol' Barliman Butterbur know what it is you want."

"Thank you," Elsa replied, "But we're actually here to meet someone."

"And who would that be?" he asked.

"We're looking for Gandalf the Grey. Could you let him know we've arrived?"

"Gandalf?" Butterbur asked, a confused look creeping across his face. "Gandalf…Gandalf…"

"You know," Anna said, "Old guy, long beard, pointy hat…thing for the color grey…"

"Oh yes!" he said after a moment's pause, "That's right, I remember now! Gandalf the Grey, good ole chap…"

They both gave encouraging nods.

But then Butterbur added, "…haven't seen him in these parts for 'alf a year, now."

That alone proved enough to sink Anna's heart. She looked over at her sister, and saw subtle hints of worry in her countenance. She also looked around for snowflakes dancing around, but fortunately this time she couldn't see any—though perhaps that was because of the lack of light.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Elsa asked. Butterbur agreed to this, and returned to the other side at the behest of the other patrons. Elsa and Anna, meanwhile, turned to the hobbits, and only here did Elsa unveil a more worried expression. "This isn't right," she said in a hushed voice, "Gandalf should be here!"

Any feelings of doubt that Anna had were suddenly dispelled by a very simple realization. "Maybe he's just running late," she suggested, "It happens."

"Wizards are never late, Anna," Frodo stated with a slight grin, "Nor are they early; they arrive precisely when they mean to."

Elsa nodded, seemingly calmed by both propositions. "You're both right," she said, "He does have a habit of showing up when you need him the most…"

"Then what are we s'posed to do?" Sam asked.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you fellows and ladies," Pippin declared, "But I for one wouldn't mind the chance to rest my aching feet and get some refreshments."

"We might as well be here waiting for Gandalf when he gets here, anyway," Merry added.

"Very well," Elsa said, "It's not like we have much of a choice." She and Anna stood back up and returned to the counter, calling Butterbur back to their aid. "My friends and I would indeed like some accommodations, please."

"Friends?" Butterbur asked, again quite confused, but this was cleared quite swiftly when he peered over the counter and saw the hobbits. "Oh, yes, of course! We've also got some nice hobbit-sized rooms available; always proud to cater to little folk as well! Now, who'll be paying for this?"

Elsa quickly realized that she didn't carry any Middle-Earth coinage on her person, so she stood aside and let Frodo handle that part of the transaction as Butterbur opened the book and dipped a quill in the ink bottle. "And your name would be…?"

"Underhill," Frodo replied, "My name's Underhill."

It took a brief moment for Anna to make the connection and get the reference, but when she did, she felt very pleased with it.

"Underhill…yeah…" Butterman grumbled as he scribbled the name down. After that business was settled, he offered to show them to their rooms, but they declined for the moment, preferring a table where they could get some hot food. They chose a table in an unassuming spot of the common room just a short distance away from the fireplace, doing their best to slip by a host of drunkards while trying not to draw too much attention. However, Anna could almost feel certain gazes thrown their way, and she realized that perhaps her earlier suspicions may not have been entirely unfounded. But then she glanced at her sister, and any fears of that were eased, somewhat.

Arriving at the table, Anna sat down upon the wooden bench, letting out a brief, grateful sigh—not because the bench was comfortable or anything like that, but at least it was something meant to be sat upon. For the past couple of weeks, she'd rested on rocks, tree branches, or simply on the bare ground (once or twice, Elsa had offered to make an ice bed for her, but she declined. Unlike her older sister, the cold did somewhat bother her), but this was a relief…

At that moment, she realized how pampered she was thinking. What would Kristoff think about what that?

Everyone clambered into place; Sam and Frodo took spots next to Elsa, while Merry and Pippin went to Anna's side, and with that, she realized how truly small they were; at first she'd been concerned about how much room they would take up, but they didn't take up that much room at all. Everyone's expression varied somewhat on the range between comfort and uneasiness, Sam most clearly settling into clear distrust. Frodo and Elsa, however, both shared a look of concern as they settled in.

"Now then," said Merry, "Now that we've got certain black-clad riders out of the way, and if might be so bold to ask, what exactly are two Big Folk women doin' running around with a bunch of hobbits?"

"_Excuse me_?" asked Anna.

"Anna, it's okay," Elsa assured her.

"They're friends of Bilbo's from a very distant land," Frodo explained, and added with a grin, "where apparently people burst into singing whenever they feel like it."

"That's not what I—" Anna protested.

"Really? That's just a wee bit odd," Pippin stated.

"And how d'you know Bilbo Baggins?" Merry asked.

"She's the Snow Queen from Bilbo's stories!" Sam whispered, gesturing towards Elsa.

Both of the newer hobbits eyes went wide at the revelation, while Elsa cringed, her own gaze darting around at whoever might have overheard it. As far as Anna could tell, however, no one did, but if anyone was looking for them, that slight drop in air temperature might have tipped them off…

"I knew it," Pippin said at last, "I just knew it."

"No you didn't!" said Merry.

"You're right, I didn't." Pippin admitted, "So, can you really bring a snowman to life, then?"

"Would you two _please _keep it down?" Elsa pleaded.

"But that was _years_ ago," Merry said, "Years and years…are you two elves?"

"Nope, sorry," said Anna.

"Half-elves, then?"

Fortunately, their dinner arrived, after which Merry and Pippin didn't press the matter any further; their meal included hot soups, cold meats, blackberry tart, fresh loaves of bread with butter to accompany it, and half a wheel of cheese. Not a bad meal at all, Anna would have to say—though there was a depressing lack of chocolate. Again, she was just grateful to have food in front of her; at that moment she realized how hungry she was after all that running around in the woods. It functioned well enough as a distraction, for nobody said much during that time; apparently, all you had to do was to place victuals in front of a hobbit, and that would be enough to shut them up. Normally, Anna would have been the one to strike up a conversation, but even she needed a break; this had been a stressful night, after all. If only she were able to convince Elsa and Sam to calm down; every now and then she spotted them shooting anxious glances at their surroundings now and then.

Still, she could understand their anxiety; how much longer did they have to sit in this place and await the wizard's arrival? She hoped that it wouldn't be too long; for one, she wasn't certain if she were capable of becoming accustomed to the smell of warm alcohol and tobacco smoke, and second, she doubted that they could afford staying here for very long—the first time in her life that such a concern had ever crossed her mind.

She looked over and found Merry holding a much larger mug of beer than before, leering at it with greedy eyes. At first she wondered where the golden-haired hobbit managed to get it, but then she realized he must have left without her noticing. Elsa really hadn't been kidding about that whole 'disappearing thing', had she?

Pippin's interest seemed piqued immediately. "What's that?" he asked.

"This, my friend, is a _pint!_" Merry answered, lifting the froth to his lips.

"It comes in _pints_?" Pippin gasped. "I'm getting one."

Despite protests from Sam and Elsa, Pippin stood bolt upright and marched right over to the counter, ducking and weaving his way past the much taller patrons towards the counter.

"Well, at least be quick about it!" Frodo said after him. If his words landed on Pippin's pointed ears, none of them could say for sure.

"I take it you don't normally get that much in Hobbiton?" Anna asked.

Merry only grunted his answer through a heavy swig of beer.

"Didn't think so," she said, turning her attention back to her plate. She noticed, however, that Sam's narrowed eyes were fixed for a moment in one particular direction before heading back. Curious, she started to turn her head in that direction…

"Don't!" Sam whispered.

"Don't what?" she asked.

"Don't look at him straight!"

"Look at who?" asked Elsa.

"You see that fellow over there, in the corner?" he said.

Taking Sam's advice, Anna looked through the corner of her eye and saw just a short distance away from the fireplace a man in a dark green cloak sitting with one leather-booted leg over the other stretched out by the window. He held a pipe in his hand, providing the smoke that trailed through dark whiskers in soft, translucent clouds. His eyes were kept hidden beneath his hood, yet she could feel a certain piercing gaze coming through...

"What about him?" she whispered.

"Ever since we got here, he's done nothin' but stare right at us," said Sam, "And I don't like it one bit."

"Are you sure of this?" Elsa whispered, her head still but her eyes glancing over in the hooded man's direction.

"Absolutely."

They glanced back at each other nervously. Gandalf's words about there being many spies in the Dark Lord's service echoed in Anna's thoughts…

Just then, Butterbur started to pass by, carrying a plate of bread in one hand and two mugs in the other. Frodo tugged on his apron, causing him to pause for a moment. "Excuse me," the hobbit asked, "that man over in the corner; do you know who he is?"

Butterbur turned pale when he saw whom Frodo referred to. "He's one of them Rangers," he answered in a hushed voice, fear crinkling his brown and widening his eyes, "Right dangerous folk they are, wanderin' about in the wilds. What his right name is, I've never heard, but 'round here, he's known as 'Strider'."

He took off before any more information could be gleaned.

"Well _that _doesn't sound suspicious at all," said Merry before he indulged himself in yet another swig.

"What's a Ranger? You know, other than tall, dark, and scary looking." asked Anna.

"I've heard little of them," Frodo admitted, "up until now."

Anna looked over at her sister across the table, and found that, rather than fear and suspicion, an altogether different expression manifested itself in her blue eyes as she stared down at nothing. It seemed that she was searching for something…

"Elsa?" she said, "What's wrong?"

"Strider…" Elsa whispered, "…I've heard that name before…but where?"

Anna's eyes widened at that remark. Carefully she turned her head to look back at the cloaked stranger through the corner of her eye.

A warm red glow erupted from the bowl of the pipe, dimly illuminating a pair of dark eyes staring right at her.

She jerked away from his sight, her heartbeat rising.

The group sat uncomfortably silent amidst the heavy laughter and loud chatting all around them for a few minutes. By this point, no one, save for Merry, could focus on food or drink, not with the knowledge that they were being watched. Anna only wished that Elsa would do something, but even she knew that it would mean blowing their cover—assuming of course they had a cover. She looked over at her sister, hoping to find some source of comfort, but even then Elsa's eyes were elsewhere, probably still thinking about the last time she'd heard that name. Sam seemed lost in a silent grumble of his own making. Frodo, however, seemed to be getting drowsy; his eyes lowered to near closure, and he seemed deaf to the entire world…

Anna then realized something. "What's taking Pippin so long?" she asked. Everyone, save for Frodo, became awake with the realization, but none had an answer to give.

"I'm going to go get him; be right back!" Anna declared, getting up from her seat before anyone could stop her. With some degree of difficulty, she managed to make her way over to the counter, setting a watch out for anyone under four feet high amidst all the cloaks and robes. One man moved out of the way, and there she found Pippin, sitting at the bar atop a stool taller than he was and surrounded by several grim-looking men.

"There you are, Pippin," she said, "We were getting worried about—"

"Oh _there _you are, Anna!" Pippin said as he held a pint of ale in his hand while his face flushed with red, "Have you met Mister Ferny here? I was just telling him all about Frodo Baggins!"

Her heartbeat jumped at the icy cold that flushed within it. Had no one told him they were supposed to be going incognito?

"Anyway, he's my second cousin, once removed on his mother's side…" Pippin started.

"Okay there, little guy," she said, trying to hide the panic in her voice as best as she could, "I think you've had a _little _too much to drink—let's get back before…" She ducked through and grabbed Pippin by the arm, only to find another hand latched onto hers.

"Now now there, missy," a rough voice said. She looked up at a man with greasy yellow hair and rough stubble across his swarthy face looking down at her with squinty eyes. "Let the Halfling finish what he was going to say."

"Get off of me, creep!" she shouted, trying to pull out of his grasp, but that proved to be a struggle unto itself. In her scuffle, she saw something gleam with a silver light in the dark of the man's cloak, something that the man's other hand started to reach for.

Panic took over in that brief instant as she realized what it was, and in that brief instant, she did the only thing that she could think of and let her foot fly forward.

In that brief instant, Mister Ferny suddenly regretted taking an open stance.

His grasp loosened on her arm loosened, and Anna suddenly felt herself falling backward. She flailed around, trying to regain balance, but then she felt something, too short to be a man, collide with her from behind.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something made of gold fly into the air for a split second.

She turned, and in that passing moment, watched as Frodo fell onto the floor and the Ring flew right onto the finger of his outstretched hand.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Frodo wasn't there anymore.

The people around her gasped in shock and surprise; no one noticed, nor did they particularly care as Anna quickly grabbed Pippin and dragged him away from the commotion. As she did so, her eyes searched the ground for any trace of Frodo, but none could she find.

Away from the crowd, Elsa, Sam, and Merry came to their side as quickly as they could, checking to see if they were unharmed.

"Are you alright?" Elsa asked.

"I'm fine," Anna answered.

"Where's Frodo?" her elder sister whispered.

"I don't know! He just disappeared!"

If there hadn't been snowflakes dancing around Elsa's head then, there certainly were now as she twisted around, panic flaring in her countenance as much as it did in the others'. Their eyes searched the room with every sense on high alert, but it would have been hard enough to find a trace of the young Mister Baggins in this lot even if he hadn't turned invisible; there were simply too many cloaks and jackets about.

As if by a stroke of sheer luck, though, Anna's gaze went towards the staircase in the back; there, a man in a dark green cloak went flying up the stairs with a head of thick brown hair before it.

"Elsa, there!" she whispered, "That Strider guy's got him!"

Following her directions, Elsa took the lead, followed by Anna and the rest of the hobbits, but the maze of tables and pub patrons hindered their progress. Along the way, though, Merry and Pippin managed to procure a candelabra and a stool respectively, expecting a fight. Perhaps they were right to do so; after all, she had seen a sheathed sword at Strider's side.

Once free of the tables and people, they raced up the stairs as quickly as they could, only to hear the slam of a door along their way up. This only urged them on further, leading them to the second floor up, where they found a long row of wooden doors on either side of the hall.

"What do we do now?" asked Sam.

"Listen in on them," Elsa said, taking on an air of leadership that Anna only rarely saw, "See if you can hear Frodo's voice anywhere."

They quickly filed out, each member of the group heading for a door and pressing an ear towards the keyhole for a few seconds before moving on to the next one. It took them a few tries, but sooner than they would have expected, Sam gave a signal indicating he'd found it.

"Alright then," Elsa whispered, "We'll need to come up with a plan to get Frodo out of there without…"

However, Sam then threw the door open and charged in with a furious yell, while Merry and Pippin raced to his side.

Elsa and Anna raced after them, and entering the small room they found the three hobbits facing off against the much taller man, who brandished a long sword towards them; Frodo, meanwhile, stood near the fireplace. Elsa brushed past them, and with a swift fluid motion, a sword of ice materialized in her hand and found its edge pointed towards the stranger's own blade.

"Release him," Elsa commanded as she held forth her crystalline blade, "now."

"That's right;" Anna said from behind, "Don't mess with my sister!"

In the span of time that the two faced each other, Anna finally got a good look at the surprisingly tall Strider's now uncovered face; appearing to be in his forties, he bore long black hair that fell to his shoulders, as well as rugged features that spoke of a hard life. He stared unnerved, though with some degree of surprise, at Elsa with those grey eyes of his. Though he was intimidating, Anna had to admit that he was rather handsome in a peculiar way.

"And who would you be?" Strider asked.

"His protector," Elsa declared.

"A valiant one," he observed, "but an unprepared one. I know what hunts for you."

"I've faced greater enemies than them," Elsa replied, "Greater than you. I'm not afraid of you."

To her surprise, the man put away his sword. "You need not fear me," he said, "I am a friend."

"You really expect me to trust you?" Elsa replied, her gaze unnerved.

"If I wanted the Ring," Strider replied, "I could've taken it and have been gone long before you would have even noticed."

That certainly was a surprise to Anna; she hadn't assumed that anyone outside of their little company knew of the Ring. Whether or not it

"Then why are you here?" she said.

"Waiting for the wizard is no longer an option for you," said he.

"You know Gandalf?" she asked, "What's happened to him?"

"I cannot say," he answered, "But I do know this; they are coming, and they will be here soon. I can assure you, you have not faced enemies like this before."

"Then what's your suggestion?" Elsa asked.

He then walked forward, but the blade in her hand kept him at bay. "If you value your lives—if you value his life" he said, gesturing to Frodo, "then you will do as I say."

"Hey, you don't get to tell her what to do, she's—" Anna started.

Elsa cut her off, yet never took her eyes off of Strider saying, "Anna, _please_." She stared at this Ranger for what seemed like eternity. All Anna could do was wonder what she would do next; as far as she could tell, this Strider guy seemed to know more than she or anyone else did about their situation. Plus, he hadn't taken the Ring, so maybe…perhaps it was a fool's hope, but Anna was one to run on fool's hope. Whether or not Elsa would, that remained to be seen…

The answer came swiftly as the ice sword melted away in Elsa's hand. "If your hand moves against us," she warned him, "I won't hesitate to…bring justice upon you. Now, I expect you have a plan, _Strider?_"

* * *

Late into the night, the rain had stopped and the dark clouds moved on, allowing the moon to shed her light. A heavy silence permeated the village of Bree in its wake. All its residents had retired to their homes or other places of resting to wait for the dawn, little knowing it would have to endure the nightmare first.

It came swiftly and suddenly; first came the crashing down of a wooden gate, knocked clean off of its hinges. The hooves of malignant horses came thundering through the winding streets, until at last they drew to a humble in. Swords sung as they were unsheathed, followed by the forcing open of a locked door.

Silence reigned again, but not for long. Anyone awake at the time sat helpless in their suspense, wondering what had befallen them, and wondering how long its presence would remain.

The seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes seemed to stretch on and on…

Then suddenly, the silence was broken; the sound of something, several somethings, being pierced and sliced into erupted, muffled by the walls of the inn. It went on for some time, while horses grumbled and growled outside, struggling to move forth…

Then the awful shrieking came, the harsh voices piercing into the darkness. It was followed by cracking and crashing of wood and cloth.

These noises awoke Anna from her slumber upon an armchair next to the fireplace, like none other could. She saw Merry, Pippin, and Sam all sitting upright in the large bed they had rented, Frodo on a chair right next to them, Elsa standing near her, and Strider sitting in a chair, wrapped in his cloak and clutching his sword in his hands, just a short distance away from the window, close enough to see out, but not enough to be seen in through.

The shrieking continued, and somehow Anna could sense rage within them. She wasn't surprised; it had been Strider's idea to have them all sneak over to another building in the dead of the night. Elsa, meanwhile, came up with a few snow dummies to act as decoys; at her command, they even moved slightly, giving the impression of sleeping hobbits. Their ploy failed, however, to assuage Anna's fear of these black assassins.

The shrieking went on, drawing nearer until metal clinked around, and the hooves of malignant horses began drumming away again, this time fading away until they could be heard no more.

When all was quite again, Elsa spoke first. "Thank you," she said.

"What are they?" Frodo asked.

"They were men once," Strider answered, "Great Kings of Men, in fact. But Sauron the Deceiver gave to them Nine Rings of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question, and one by one they fell into darkness. Now they have become slaves to his will."

He didn't look in their way at all, but Anna noticed something in Strider's eyes and his voice as he spoke of the assailants. Though it was like a small worm that wriggled limply in the dust after the rain, it was unmistakable dread.

"They are the Nazgûl," he continued, "Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the Ring. They will never stop hunting you."

A chill went through her spine.

"Well, now what are we supposed to do?" Pippin asked.

"For now, take your rest," Strider suggested, "But we will leave early in the morning."

"And go where?" queried Merry.

"To Rivendell, to the House of Elrond," was Strider's answer.

At those words, everyone looked at the Ranger in utter surprise.

"We're going to see the elves?" said Sam, "Truly?"

"Are you serious?" Anna blurted, "I mean, I know you look that way all the time, but it's probably not your fault and—never mind about that, but still that's such a crazy coincidence! We were going to go there ourselves before all this happened!"

"Save your energy and rest," Strider said, "we must leave before first light."

Even then, Elsa and Anna couldn't help but look at each other with joy. Finally, they were on their way to see someone who had answers AND get their friend out of harm's way! Anna's hand clasped on the pocket where the Star Gem laid; things were finally turning around for them.

_Kristoff, I'm coming home!_


	6. Chapter 6: Amon Sul

Dawn's arrival, especially after that eventful night, wasn't entirely welcome. The comforts of sleep lasted for only a short while, and then a quick rapping at the door broke it all for Anna. Elsa's voice soon followed, urging her to hurry so they could depart. As she shook herself awake, she looked out the window to see the dark sky barely tinged by a touch of light blue on the horizon. Totally unfair, in her opinion; she'd barely enough time to slip on her clothes and manage her usual wild bedhead into her daily pigtails—and even then, it wasn't her usual best. To be fair, though, Elsa seemed to have had a rough time with it as well; dark circles burned out from under her eyes, and if Anna wasn't mistaken, a patch of melting frost dripped away on one of the bedposts.

They didn't speak a word until they were as fully prepared as time would allow. They stepped out and found Strider and the hobbits outside their door waiting for them; Sam, Merry, and Pippin clearly showed the same signs of drowsiness that besieged Anna at the moment, while Frodo…Anna wasn't sure what was up with Frodo. All through the night after vanishing at the Prancing Pony, he seemed…haunted. Strider on the other hand remained the same as he had been the night before, to her own bewilderment; before anyone could even say good morning, they were on their way.

Stepping outside into the cool air, they found the muddy streets to be largely empty of life, save for the odd stray cat and the few birds singing their hearts out to beat the rising sun. They made their way over to the Prancing Pony, Strider having made it clear that he wanted to settle some business with Butterbur before they departed. The door swung all too easily for them; the bolt on the other side had given way to something with great strength and now laid on the floor with chunks of the frame still attached to them. At first it seemed that the place was empty, without even a single drunk passed out on the floor. Then Butterbur emerged from another part of the room in his sleepwear, but clearly having gotten no sleep at all himself.

"Oh, it's just you! Oh, last night, it was terrible!" he sputtered when he saw Strider and the others, "Absolutely terrible! Those ruffians, coming in 'ere and frightening all the guests and tearing the place apart…what more, almost everyone's beasts have all bolted and run off, save for one! Oh, what are we coming to?"

"Dark times," Strider answered, "I am sorry for the damages, but perhaps this will make up for it." He handed Butterbur a sack of money, and then added, "We will be gone, and then you may be left in peace. But first we're going to need supplies, and then plenty to spare, and a pony to carry it."

"I doubt you'll get one," Butterbur said, "There are very few ponies and horses in Bree, and last I checked, they're not for sale."

"Just out of curiosity," said Elsa, "you said that only one animal remained. Why?"

"Probably because it was too tired to run off with the rest," the landlord answered, "I think he belongs to that Ferny fellow…"

"_That _guy?" Anna said.

Butterbur nodded, "Aye, but I ain't seen nothing of him since last night."

Sam then spoke up. "Do you think we could see 'im? The one beast, I mean."

Butterbur shrugged, and soon Anna, Sam, and Pippin went with him to the stable. True to his word, every stable door had been busted open and their occupants fled (Anna wondered how it was that she'd managed to sleep through THAT ruckus), save for one sorrel-colored pony with a light mane standing forlornly in its place. On closer inspection, his ribs were visible through his scar-peppered coat.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Anna said, immediately taking pity on the equine and stroking him gently, something that the pony seemed unused to at first. They asked Butterbur to see if Mr. Ferny would be willing to sell the pony (and made doubly sure to keep any mention of her out of the question for fear of reprisal). He took off to do so, but returned swiftly after, saying that Ferny was absent from his own room, and could not be found anywhere else. The evidence suggested he took off in a rush, hardly bothering to take anything with him at all.

As far as Anna and Sam were concerned, that settled the question.

They returned to the rest of the party with the good news, and with that, they took the pony (whom Sam decided to name Bill), and left the Inn before any inquiring eyes could peer after them. After finding a shopkeeper willing to sell some extra supplies for their journey, they departed the village through the East exit, following the road for a bit before veering off into the woods entirely (Anna nearly protested their choice of direction, only to remember the last time they'd stayed on the road). The last they saw of Bree was as they headed over a bare hill overlooking the village just as the sun began to exert its strength over the town.

* * *

Not even birdsong could be perceived as they walked through Chetwood (Elsa recalled the name as they made their way through); none spoke for a long time, either from exhaustion from the terror of the night before, or simply because of how uncharacteristically quiet the forest had become again. The girls stayed with the hobbits while Strider kept a few paces ahead, leading the way, halting them as he checked for signs of danger, and then motioning them forward. The paths he chose could hardly be called paths at all, twisting through patches of thick, thorny brush and over thick ridges, yet he wound their way with as much confidence as Anna imagined a wild animal would in this sort of habitat. He even sniffed around a couple times as they dipped into a section of forest where thick patches of moss covered stone and trunk alike.

Hours passed as they made their way through the wood, and once her drowsiness passed, Anna began to resent the vocal stillness, and as far as she was concerned, they didn't know a thing about their new guide.

"So, Mister Strider!" she said as she stepped over a large stone, "I was just wondering—well actually I've been mulling it over a while—a lot—anyway, what is it that a 'Ranger' actually _does _? You know, other than…ranging, I guess?"

"We have been watchmen and protectors of the realm of Eriador ever since the fall of the Kingdom of Arnor," Strider answered without so much as turning his head to face her. "Few escape our watch…even Queens of Winter trying to hide in the Wild."

Elsa, who up until this point had been keeping a steady pace, stopped in her tracks. "Wait, what? You knew who I was the whole time? Why didn't you say anything?"

"To be fair, I was not sure at first. Many tales spread across the north after your departure, and history has a way of becoming fantastic in the lips and tongues of ordinary folk."

"_And _you say your people knew I've been here before? But the only one who ever found me was Gandalf and…"

"And how do you think Gandalf knew your name?" said Strider.

Elsa's expression of surprise froze at that, followed by a period of awkward silence as they marched on. Anna, however, quickly remedied that, with some more queries, which became pretty much the only sound to be heard at all in that forest. Most of them went unanswered.

* * *

Their journey continued on further on for several miles after that, only stopping as the light of day began to dim and rest was truly necessary. An attempt to halt earlier in the day had been attempted, only for Strider to establish that there would be no resting until nightfall, at which point Anna learned that for hobbits, there was more than one meal in the day (seven, as a matter of fact). The news was bad enough for Pippin, but especially so for Anna, who questioned her ability to keep on her feet as far as was required. At the end of the day, though, nothing pleased her more than to finally lie down and rest for the night. Even then, however, the woods remained silent.

The next day came, and the order of events came and went much as they did the day prior. Anna found it much harder to try and glean any information from Strider than yesterday, though perhaps that could be blamed on the effort of walking insisting upon their focus. The ground began to drop and the trees became sparser and sparser, giving way to flat, open scrubland. Here, the terrain beneath their feet was difficult to manage, and the skies above, colored a light grey, offered no consolation, only a well-fulfilled promise of cold air.

It wasn't until the next day, however, that things started to become…intolerable seemed to be the most polite way to put it. It started when the ground became soft and damp, with water rushing in to fill the prints they left behind. Ponds hidden by thick stands of reeds and rushes started to pop up in more and more places, and along with that it became harder and harder to walk without having to pull a foot out from thick muck and filth. Everyone, even Strider, endured great difficulty in traversing this marsh- everyone except Elsa that is, for whom the water and mud turned solid beneath her feet and allowing her easy passage. As soon as this was discovered, everyone did their best to follow close behind her, though the effort in doing that was difficult in itself, as her path was narrow and for the rest of them slippery.

All that, however, turned out to be mere annoyances. What truly made their passage torture was the reason, as Anna quickly found out, that the place was called 'Midgewater'.

The tiny insects came up in thick clouds all around them, the sound of their vibrating wings in the ears of the travelers drowning out even the songs of the warbling birds and the croaking frogs. They crawled into every crack and crevice they could find to extract their desired blood, their movement and biting growing into a hideous torment as the hobbits and the women swatted them away in futility, all the while trying to keep themselves from sinking.

"What do they eat," Merry sputtered out as he climbed out of a muddy hole, "When they can't get hobbit?!"

Anna couldn't imagine a time where even she was exasperated beyond belief. Several times thus far she had gotten stuck in the mud, and twice had she stumbled and fallen into it, getting the muck all over her, and that wasn't even including all the bugs she had to swat away. Already she was regretting the decision to trust this 'Strider' with their path. Who in the world would think walking into a bloodsucking insect-infested swamp was a good idea?

"That is IT!" her sister's voice shouted above the buzzing. Suddenly, a freezing wind gusted past her, chilling the dampened parts of her…and with that, the whining, buzzing, and biting vanished into a soundless oblivion. Anna looked around to find a fine covering of frost on her sleeves, and then in relief to find every last airborne midge gone, though a few had managed to wriggle deep into their clothes and continued their plague from there. She and the others looked up to see Elsa with her arms spread out, and her face dotted with little red dots.

Never before had it been so convenient to have a sister with winter powers along for the trip, and the hobbits clearly appreciated said convenience, though slightly chilled as they were.

Strider, however, didn't seem to agree, as he tromped through the marsh towards Elsa. "I would advise a little more caution from you, your majesty," he said firmly, "A cold wind is easier to find than a footprint."

Elsa's look of triumph shuddered to one of slight fear and guilt as Strider turned around and marched on ahead. Anna, meanwhile, marched up to her sister's side. "Can you believe him?" she whispered, "Ungrateful, much?"

"No, he's right," Elsa said.

"Well, never mind that," Anna said, "The sooner we're at Rivendell, the sooner we can be rid of him."

Elsa's lips curled into a wry smile. "I thought you'd like him, Anna."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Doesn't he remind you of anyone in particular? A lone ice harvester, perhaps?"

"Kristoff?" Anna said in surprise, "Don't be silly, Kristoff's not anything like…oh whatever, let's keep moving."

Though the rest of the day continued to be sloppy and difficult, at least they didn't have to worry about the midges; even Strider seemed grateful for their disappearance, though his expression barely betrayed it.

* * *

With the coming of nightfall, they made camp in one of the few dry spots in the entire marsh, the only problem being that there was little chance of obtaining cleanliness. Once they settled in, Strider took off; he returned with a slain buck slung over his shoulders a couple of hours later. Anna lacked the stomach to see the work of butchery commence on what once lived only a short time ago, and thus turned away from the sight, looking instead towards the mists that covered the swamp, illuminated by the pale moonlight.

Elsa took a seat next to her. "You haven't said much," she said, "How are you doing?"

"Well enough, I guess," Anna said, "This isn't _quite _what I expected."

"It never is."

"How in the world did you manage?" Anna asked her, "I mean—you were living in a cave in the middle of the woods!"

"It wasn't easy," Elsa admitted, "I'm just glad someone else is doing the skinning and gutting this time; I never liked doing that."

"_This_ time?" Anna questioned, "You mean you had to _hunt_ for your food? I thought you just went down to the village to get what you needed."

"I had to do a lot of things on my own, and sometimes that meant…well, you know. Sometimes the village was just too far away. On the bright side, I got better with practice."

Anna shuddered at the thought of Elsa actually skewering a living thing with an icicle.

She noticed Elsa's expression dampening. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Do you think everything at home is alright?" her sister responded, "We've been gone for almost a month, now, and I left in the middle of a royal council! I hadn't even announced my decree!"

"Elsa, I'm sure everything's fine," Anna said. "Remember the way time passed the last time you left? When we get back, no one will have noticed that we were even gone! Positive!"

"I hope you're right," Elsa whispered, "If anything's happened…I don't think I could forgive myself."

Sooner than they expected, the smell of venison came wafting from the small campfire, though there was only enough made for small portions. They saved the rest for later, keeping in mind the element of stealth.

Once they attempted to sleep, a new breed of irritation came with the discovery that there were species of insects more resistant to Elsa's cold than the midges; all through the night, they were kept awake by what must have been gigantic, and obnoxiously loud, crickets. Their unholy racket was enough to keep them awake for a good portion of the night.

* * *

The next day, and still with very little sleep beneath their belts, their journey continued onward through the marshes. The midges made a return, but this time in fewer, more manageable numbers than they had before. On top of that, the ground slowly became more traversable, though only by the smallest of margins possible. Even so, it proved to be the boost Anna needed for the journey.

After another miserable day of soggy boots, dripping clothes, and innumerable bites, they made camp once again in a dry spot of the marsh. Leftover venison once again became supper, and they ate and eventually slept to the harsh noise of the marsh crickets. By this time, Anna had yet to become truly accustomed to their song (if that was what it could be called), and yet she did manage to descend somewhat into the comfort of slumber…

…But then a new noise stirred her gently awake. Instead of cricket screeching, it was the deep voice of a man…singing? Anna quietly pulled herself up and turned her torso around to see Strider sitting upon a nearby log, his face towards the moon. The song indeed came from him. In spite of being in a tongue she didn't understand, through his lips it came out soft and clearly tinged with longing and mournfulness that she could clearly recognize.

Something with far too many crawled across her hand in the dark, and she flung it off with a small yelp. Cut off in his Strider turned around in the closest thing that Anna could identify as surprise.

"Sorry," she said, "I just….that song is just so pretty. What's it about?"

"Tis the Lay of Luthien," Strider said as he turned back around, "the elf maiden who gave her love to Beren, a mortal."

Well, if that wasn't romantic, then Anna didn't know what was. "Ooh!" she said, "What happened?"

"She died," Strider replied rather bluntly.

Spoiler alert, Anna thought to herself.

He bid her to get some sleep, and so she returned to her reclining posture, her mood having been killed. Still, she would've liked to hear the rest of the story, and especially how in the world an elf and a man got together in the first place. The question was, however, if it was history, like so many other tales were, or if it was simple romance. In the meandering paths of her thoughts, she came up with some unusual analyses; Luthien and Beren reminded her of herself and Kristoff, in an allegorical way of speaking of course, herself being of royal birth and Kristoff being, well, not so much—but even then, if she were to take his adoption by the trolls into account…

Then she wondered, was Kristoff okay? Did he know she was even gone? The thoughts that nearly put her in a panic her first night in Middle-Earth came back to haunt her. She could only pray that their feet would carry them fast enough to Rivendell…

* * *

The next day made its entrance, and to everyone's satisfaction, the earth beneath their feet began to regain its firmness. By the middle of the day, the Marshes were far behind them, as were the uncomforts of soggy shoes and drenched dresses, though the muck clung on as dry dust on their garments. No longer was the land flat and pocked with marsh and trees; instead, it began to increase in its height, and become studded with large outcrops of stone and huge boulders. Up ahead, they could see far the hills growing taller and taller with the distance, until at last a row stood out from among them all. From that row, right in the center, one conical hill stood with a somewhat flattened top to it. Strider declared that particular hill to be Weathertop, the location of the ruins of the great watchtower Amon Sûl, then noting that it was close to the Old Road. He made it clear that they should move as quickly as they could through the hills towards it, for in this open landscape they had lost any chance of hiding from the eyes of whatever creature had been employed to be a spy for Sauron and his lackeys. The very thought of some random bird snooping in on them proved enough to send shudders through the less-traveled of the group, and propelled them forward in their march.

At this point in the journey, they noted the cold that hung in the air as they went along—and at first everyone looked towards Elsa as the culprit. She thoroughly denied it, however, and the hobbits realized that October must have fallen upon them by now. Even though she was not the cause of it, Elsa did find herself feeling strengthened slightly; long ago she had come to realize that, though they were a force to be reckoned with at any time of the year, her powers grew in strength as the summer ebbed away and winter itself advanced to its peak, even without her egging it on. She felt it even more so the next morning after a night's rest when frost, this time not of her doing, hung on the stunted alder trees they rested by. She knew how dangerous she could be in the heat of summer; she could only imagine the potential terror she could unleash in the cold of winter…and she shuddered at the thought. It really had been a good thing she'd restrained herself from Thorin's demands at Erebor so long ago.

Continuing on, the hills and stones grew higher and higher, and surprisingly they began to show signs of having been inhabited at one point in history, though clearly not for a very long time. The next morning, they discovered at last an actual path that they could follow, made so by years of abuse from the soles of travelers like themselves. Whoever these past travelers had been, however, it seemed clear that they didn't want to be seen at all; the path ran in a way so that its followers were concealed from view as much as possible by diving into dells and ducking behind great boulders. Considering their pursuers, it seemed like a great benefit to them.

By the end of a dark grey afternoon, they finally came across Weathertop itself, a vast mound made up of what looked like huge slabs of grey stone swathed clumsily in patches of green grass and crowned with the crumbling ruins of what was clearly the base of a tower, as Strider said it had once been. Here, Strider declared it to be their resting place for the night; with haste the party scurried up the particularly steep slope of the hill towards a deep cavity in the side, where they relieved themselves of their burdens. Even Bill the Pony slumped down to rest against the wall, and in turn Anna sat and rested against him, stroking his mane. They observed upon arriving that their resting place may not have been so much a natural occurrence of erosion so much as it was yet another evidence of previous inhabitance, as they found a weathered staircase leading up to what could only be the top of the hill.

Once she'd laid her pack down, Elsa took a moment to step out towards the ledge where Strider stood as well. She gazed across the bleak and barren hills and plains, the wind whipping past as it pushed the dark clouds above them in a furious attempt to block out the sun, though failing to do so as it sunk down into the horizon. Against the rosy patches that came through the cloud cover, she spied forest afar off, standing like the beach against a sea of tumbling grassy hills and plains, and beyond them the slow rise of the mountains, half-concealed by the weather itself. At least now, the terrain somewhat aroused her memory.

"How far off is Rivendell?" she asked the Ranger.

"From here," Strider calculated, "Assuming fair weather and no impediments, it would be about a fortnight on foot."

"What's a fortnight?" asked Anna from behind them as she lay against the cavity wall with Merry and Pippin.

"About two more weeks," Elsa explained.

"Two weeks?" Pippin moaned, "Two more weeks of this? I don't think I'll make it."

"Oh, pipe down, Pip," Merry shot back at him.

It wasn't long before Strider turned back and laid a cloth full of small blades big enough to act as swords for the hobbits, and it was to them that they were given. Anna also received a weapon, a medium-sized sword that she held with some apprehension. "Keep them close," he advised, as they unsheathed the blades, their eyes widening not so much because of any craftsmanship present, but more so at the sheer fact of the weapons in their hands.

Something anxious churned inside of Elsa, and the hobbit nearest her shuddered at the slight drop in temperature.

"Um, could I speak with you in private?" she asked the ranger. Once they'd gotten to a fair distance, she whispered, "Is this really necessary? I think that they'll be fine without those."

"What is your point?" Strider asked.

"It's just that I've been able to keep everyone safe on my own, thus far—"

"And if something were to happen to you? Where would they be?"

"I'd never let anything happen to them," she replied.

"The odds are stacked against us, majesty," he said, "I prefer not to leave these things to chance."

"Strider, as far as I'm concerned, the only weapons these hobbits have handled are garden tools and cutlery! My own sister's never lifted a sword! How do you expect them to take on these wraiths?"

"With any luck, we won't have to," Strider said.

"But you just said—"

"Plan for the worst, hope for the best," he said, then stood up and started back down the slope.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked.

"To have a look around," he answered, "Stay here, and whatever you do, don't make any lights."

"Very well," she answered, watching him as he descended the hill and shrank out of sight. She returned to the others and took a seat close to the edge where she could keep an eye out on the horizon.

"Does that mean no fires?" said Pippin, wrapping his cloak closer to his form.

"He can't be serious!" Sam moaned, "I've got all these tomatoes, sausages, and nice crispy bacon! What am I going to cook them with now?"

"We're too exposed up here," Elsa explained, "Lights set on a hill can't be hid."

"She's right," Merry admitted in a grumble, "Let's just sit up here and freeze to death."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Anna said in an attempt to relieve the tension, "We've managed to get this far, right? One fireless night won't kill us."

The remark drew a smile on Elsa's face. There was her positive sister shining through the gloom again. She looked, though, and past the commotion she saw Frodo sitting by himself, gripping the hilt of his weapon and gazing upon the lower blade.

Concerned, Elsa stood and walked over to sit by him. "Are you alright?" she asked him, "You've said little since we left Bree."

"Yes," he answered, "…and no. It's just that…this isn't what I expected to happen. None of it."

"None of us expected any of this to happen," Elsa assured him.

"I miss sleeping in a warm bed, I know that much."

Elsa softly chuckled, and said, "Well, I know for a fact that Rivendell has plenty of warm, soft beds."

"What is Rivendell like, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Wonderful," she said, "In fact, your Uncle Bilbo almost didn't want to leave the first time we got there."

Frodo smiled at that, the first time she'd seen him do so since they'd left the borders of the Shire. He shuffled for a bit, and suddenly he held open the palm of his hand towards him. In it, Elsa saw the Ring, giving off a dull flash of gold in the pale evening light.

For the first time, Elsa noticed an astonishing amount of elegance and beauty the Ring had in spite of its simplicity. Why hadn't she ever noticed it before now…?

It suddenly disappeared into the folds of Frodo's cloak again, breaking the strange little spell.

"I can't wait to be rid of this thing," he remarked.

"Oh, um, Yes," Elsa agreed as she shook herself back into reality, "Once we get to Rivendell, we can put all of this mess behind us. It won't be long, now!" They then watched as night slowly devoured the last remnants of daylight. As they did so, however, the thought of what happened in that brief span of time concerned her. What was that? She'd seen the Ring at least thrice before, so why was it now that it had an effect on her?

But perhaps her fears were for nothing. Just a few more days, and she would indeed be able to put it all behind her and pretend it never happened…

* * *

A crisp, succulent scent burdened with the bitter odor of smoke briefly wafted in Elsa's nostrils. It mingled with her dream for a few moments before the epiphany of its reality brought her into consciousness. She wondered, was it morning already?

Then she blinked her eyes open. It was darker than before and only the moon shone through patches in the cloud laden sky.

Had she dozed off while on the watch? How could she let that happen? She lifted herself upward, hoping to find Strider returned to camp. She turned to find Frodo by her side, asleep as well. Beyond him, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Anna were all eating and chatting together, their faces lit by a small flickering flame nested on a few old pieces of tinder.

"What do you think you're doing!?" she cried out, awakening Frodo.

"Oh, Elsa!" Anna said, "I'm sorry, we were just cold and…"

"We saved some food for you and Frodo," Sam said.

Before they could go on any further, Elsa leaped up onto her feet and threw a blast of ice and cold at the flame. The bolt flashed brightly blue across the stone wall as it engulfed the little fire before both vanished, allowing the dark to resume its domain. All four sets of eyes went up towards her in mild guilt as she spoke. "Don't you remember what Strider said? Don't you realize what kind of danger you could've put us in?"

"It was just a small fire!" Merry defended, "There's no way anyone could see that from afar—"

A sudden, high-pitched shriek pierced the night, along with their souls, like a cold knife in the dark.

On high alert, everyone got up onto their feet and rushed over to the edge overlooking the fog-blanketed landscape below them, searching anxiously for any sign of movement.

Unfortunately, they found a sign; five black shapes glided through the mist, directly towards them.

Instinct willing it, Elsa's ice sword materialized in her hand as the others drew their metal ones. "Come on!" she shouted.

"But what about Bill?" asked Anna as she looked back towards the spooked pony, as he shuffled and stamped his hooves into the ground.

"I said _come on_!" Elsa commanded. She could only think of one place they could retreat to, and there the rest of the party followed close behind her as they flew up the stairs through a dark tunnel. Scrambling out of the exit, they found themselves in a circular area marked by the remains of walls, arches, and columns, much of it overgrown with grass and weeds. Stone pavement found itself beneath their feet, and only a pair of stone men dressed in long robes stood by as witnesses to their plight.

The group gathered together in the center of the circle, their eyes and blades aimed at every shadow created by the moonlight. Elsa knew, however, that what they had was a feeble defense at best. She questioned whether her own powers would be enough to fend off beings that neither lived nor were dead, let alone the abilities of five beginner swordsmen…but then a thought came to her. Perhaps they didn't have to fight them to begin with. Besides, at this point, the need for subtlety was more than likely out of the question.

"Everyone, get behind me," she instructed as she dematerialized her sword. Everyone obeyed without question, and with that she held her hands out towards the ground a few feet away from them. She shot streams of magic from both hands, and where they struck grew a wall of solid ice erupted and rose high into the air before the group. Keeping the stream flowing, she waved her arms apart in opposite directions, and in response, the wall continued to rise along her designated path, until they were all surrounded within a small, thickly-walled dome of ice. Inside, everyone's breath became visible as thick puffs of cloud.

"Now _that _is clever," Pippin remarked, "I'd like to see them get past this!"

"That's my sister for ya!" said Anna.

"How long do you expect us to stay in here?" Merry questioned.

"As long as we need…" Elsa started, before her voice trailed off in a sudden rush of terror at what she saw.

A tall shadow emerged through one of the arches and loomed towards them, its shape distorted by the ice that stood between it and them. It paused for a moment, then reached and pulled out what could only be a sword; even within their fortress, she could hear the sound of the metal sliding out of its scabbard.

Silently, four more joined it on either side, and began to approach. Elsa's heart raced within her at the sight of them, and the air grew colder in response.

"Get back, you devils!" Sam shouted.

The central figure among the shadows moved closer, becoming larger and more terrible in its presence. Though they knew it couldn't touch them, the hobbits and the women all backed away from it a step or two.

The shadow then stretched forth its armored hand towards the wall of the dome. Words suddenly hissed through the air, spoken in a harsh, cruel tongue that Elsa had never heard in her life.

His hand pressed against the ice, and the words grew louder and stronger.

To Elsa's horror, cracks seamed and raced outward from the place where the shadow's hand laid.

With sudden and tremendous power, the whole dome shattered in a heavy burst. The blast knocked Elsa onto the ground, though that didn't remain the case for long. Brushing the pieces off of her, she quickly stood back up on her feet, and found herself facing five very tall figures in black robes, each holding a sword in their steel-clad hands.

One of them flew towards her in a mad rush. Instinct alone saved her as she conjured an ice barrier between her and the wraith, giving her enough time to create a sword to block the next opponent attempting to strike her with his steel. Everything became a rushing whirlwind of swords and ice after that as the wraiths attacked and she defended. With every obstacle she raised, however, the wraiths seemed capable of maneuvering around and flying at her again, forcing her to think fast and rely on her own weapon more and more. Through quick glances, she saw what fates befell her companions; each of them was buried beneath thick pieces of what had been meant to be their protection. Only one managed to crawl away, and Elsa instantly recognized his mop of dark hair anyway.

"Frodo, _run!_" she shouted as she deflected another attack.

Again, the wraiths continued their assault; for each one she drove away, another seemed to take her place.

Deciding to step up her approach, she blasted the ground with her magic, causing spears of icicles to erupt at the feet of two wraiths trying to jump her from her left, and thankfully caused them to back off (though one of them did take a hit to just below the shoulder).

Behind them for a moment, she saw one of the wraiths slink past, holding two swords in his hands.

One of the other wraiths drew away her attention with a sideswipe, and back into the fray she went. On and on the battle of four on one continued, and soon she realized that not only was she outnumbered, but also potentially outmatched; as her joints and muscles grew tired, their offense only seemed to increase in intensity. Could she even hold this battle on for much longer against undead beings?

The four remaining wraiths regrouped into pairs of two, and this time they blazed towards her from either side. This proved to be a mistake, as Elsa quickly summoned a hurricane gust of wind to blast them against the stone of the ruin, one of them even crashing straight through a pillar. It probably wasn't much, but at least it gave Elsa a chance to regather her strength, even just for a moment…

A pained cry ripped out from behind her. She wheeled around and saw the fifth wraith pointing one of his swords into…empty space.

And yet, a familiar voice cried out in agony from where the point of the blade disappeared into nothing.

"_FRODO_!" she screamed. With barely a thought, she flung an ice bolt straight towards the wraith; it struck his robed arm inciting a fearsome shriek from the enemy. The sword fell out of his hand as he turned to face her, it and the rest of the cursed limb stiffening into a perpetually clawed position.

The wraiths flung closest to him stood back up on their feet, and joined him in a new assault…only to shriek and cower as Strider suddenly leaped from a ledge and swung his sword, along with a burning torch after them.

Her will and strength renewed by the reinforcement, she quickly joined him in the counterattack. This time, the wraiths seemed truly frightened and confused as their shrieks rent the air; distracting as the cacophony was, the fact of it encouraged her. Strider jabbed and swung at their enemies with unbound strength and speed, expertly dodging their attack. One wraith tried to swing his sword straight at him; he responded by ducking below, and then jabbing the torch straight into the wraiths robes, where its flame spread and filled the night with a furious glow. Elsa meanwhile, kept herself busy by flinging more ice towards the wraiths she faced; though less fearful of her than him, she did succeed in forcing them to flee through the arches, and, to her astonishment, leap off the very edge. For a moment, all was silence—until yet another hideous shriek burst out. She turned, and saw a wraith fleeing the battleground, his robes on fire and a torch sticking out of his face as he fled away.

The two warriors scanned the area for any more of their enemy's ilk, but for the time being, they clearly secured victory. With the immediate danger passed, Elsa turned her attention to her wards; she saw Frodo lying on the ground next to a fallen column, with Sam and Anna already by his side. Merry and Pippin were barely crawling out of the icy debris; she swiftly came to their aid and checked them for serious injury, and as soon as they were on their feet again, she in turn rushed over to Frodo's side. Through his groaning and agonized writhing, blood deeply stained the clothing near his heart, and the stain only grew larger. She and Sam both urged their friend to stay as still as possible, in an attempt to halt the bleeding.

"Oh, Frodo," she whispered, "I'm so sorry…"

She felt something rub beneath her leg. Moving aside, she saw as Anna drew lifted up from the ground the sword that had done the deed; unlike the other swords the wraiths wielded, this was one was made of a dark metal she'd never seen, and fashioned in a straightly triangular manner. The very tip of it, however, was missing.

As soon as they'd gotten a look at it, the blade suddenly dissolved into dust, leaving only the hilt behind, surprising Anna into dropping it back onto the ground.

Strider soon arrived at their side.

"He's hurt!" Sam informed him, "He needs help!"

"Then we must find some safer refuge," Strider declared, "This place is hardly safe". He picked up Frodo in both arms and carried him away like a sick child, saying, "Quickly!"

Without question, the others soon followed after him as they returned to find Bill the Pony thoroughly frightened, but still right where they left him. Only one thought occupied Elsa's mind as they fled Weathertop, only a few select words that shuddered through her core:

_I failed! How could I have failed?_


	7. Chapter 7: A Poisonous Blade

The rays of the morning sun came as somewhat of a surprise to the party as they fled from Weathertop, given the blackness of the departing night. To everyone's relief, Bill hadn't fled from where they last left him, and so, once it became inconvenient for Strider to do so, the pony carried the injured Frodo as they headed southwards. A series of pale grey dawns came afterwards, and they seemed to match the mood of everyone involved. As they stumbled over the rolling hills, through deep thickets, and eventually into a shallow valley, a renewed sense of dread grew in the party; the wraiths did not show themselves in the open, nor did they see hide or hair of them (assuming they had any to give), but now it seemed that they needed to watch for every shadow that crossed their path.

The shock of the attack still clung unto Anna all the while with tenacious claws; whatever dread she'd felt upon their first brush with one Black Rider intensified with the presence of five. The fear of them overwhelmed her so much that she could barely think on the matter; the thought of Rivendell and whatever safety it had to offer, however, kept her spirits up. It turned out to be a good thing too, as she passed this through a gentle smile to the hobbits in their wordless trek every now and then, seeing their faces lift in response. She only hoped she wasn't their only source of comfort keeping them from falling into despair.

Her burden, however, grew only heavier; though they took every opportunity to stop and boil water to treat the wound and bind it with bandages, and in spite of his own constant insistence to the contrary, Frodo seemed to pale in both complexion and spirit with the rising and setting of the sun. At the moment, they could only ascribe his condition to shock, but still…hastening their steps seemed to be the only real help they could give.

On top of it all, it became remarkably obvious that the days were getting colder with each passing, and no one questioned why this time. If anyone's spirits needed to be lifted, it had to be Elsa's, but she never gave Anna the chance to help her. Rarely did Anna ever see her sister so much as look at Frodo, and when she did, her face fled away from the sight of him as they journeyed along. With every night they stopped to camp, she always kept watch first and without question, rising to the occasion far faster than the other person who would be her partner in the effort, save for Sam. When another member took that duty over from her, she hardly spoke a word, and the only expression Anna saw her wear was one stuck somewhere between panic and rage, even as she slept through the night.

It didn't take much thought process to figure out what she felt. Still, Anna thought, at least Elsa managed to fight, as opposed to getting knocked down like a scarecrow in the face of the wind. True, Anna now knew the real danger the wraiths were, but even then…

In time, the land began to rise again, and in the course of two days, they could see wooded hills in the distance. The day after that, they came close to the borders of the Great East Road, but they didn't spend any more time than necessary around that place before heading north. Soon enough, they came within range of the land of hills and trees flecked with oranges and yellows they had seen before, and here they found their progress devastatingly hindered by the steepness of the land itself. On top of that, the grey clouds above decided to send piercingly cold rain down upon them as they clambered their way through the rough terrain. In no way did it help anyone's mood at the time.

After another two days, the rain finally passed and the sun shone through, though only briefly, and with evening colors no less, as they found a clearing to pass through, with Strider at the head, followed by Sam. Anna led Bill by the reins as he carried Frodo upon his back, while in the rear followed Merry and Pippin, and finally Elsa at the very tail end. That short glow of sunlight proved enough for Anna as she led Bill along. It lifted her spirits upwards past the branches of the trees surrounding them like a platoon of gigantic soldiers, with a towering wall of jagged stone bordering the grey sky right behind them.

Thank goodness the forest isn't after us, she thought to herself. She glanced behind her, catching a small glimpse of Frodo astride the small beast through the corner of her eye. From what she could see, the hood of his cloak shielded his face from view as he hunched forward. Had he somehow managed to fall asleep on horseback, and in this weather?

"Hey, Sam?" she asked, "You want to take the reins for a bit?"

At first surprised, the stout hobbit nodded in agreement, and to him Anna handed the rope. She meanwhile, slowed down to the point where she stood right next to Frodo astride the pony. Here, she was almost right at eyelevel with the hobbit—at least, she assumed so.

"Hey, Frodo?" Anna said, softly enough for no one else but Frodo to hear "Are you awake?"

No response came at first, but Anna took a soft grunt as a delayed confirmation.

"The sun's out," Anna noted, "That's a good sign, right? Y'know, I bet we'll be there before you know it—I mean, not that I have any money to bet with, and even then I don't think of myself as much of a gambler, anyway—but that's not important, right? Anyway, I understand that _you _guys like to eat a lot—I bet Pippin does, he wouldn't shut up about it for a while—but I'm just wondering what elven food tastes like. I never asked Elsa about what she had while in Rivendell—did Bilbo ever say anything about the food there?"

Again, Frodo offered no response; he simply slouched forward, his cloak hanging on him like a wet rag on a pole. Anna found it quite uncomfortable, and she groped around trying to find a conversation topic to lighten the mood.

"Oh, gosh," she started, "All this talk of food…You want a snack or something? I know I could use a snack, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, if you could call it breakfast, or maybe its brunch, that sounds about right—what was it Pippin called it? Second breakfast? That's kind of redundant…Ooh, you know what sounds _really _good right now? Chocolate. Chocolate is _fantastic_ and I could use some right now…a lot of it in fact…oh, maybe some of those nice caramel-filled ones, MMM! Those are great, but so are the ones with orange custard inside, but I've heard something about mixing ground up chili peppers into fudge so you get a sweet and spicy thing going on in your—wait, do you even have chocolate in Middle-Earth? I wish I'd brought some over for you to—"

Her tongue only ceased its chatter once Frodo slumped towards her and fell off the saddle, but thankfully into her arms. With him being heavier than she expected, they both fell to the ground. Fortune could be pointed towards as their friend in that moment; had he fell the other way, he surely would have dashed his head upon a stone.

Everyone in the party immediately stopped and rushed to their side upon the sound of disturbance.

"What happened?" asked Strider.

"I don't know!" Anna answered, "I was just talking to him and then he just fell over!"

"Well, I knew you were the chatty one," Merry said, "But I didn't think you could put someone to sleep!"

After shooting Merry a dirty look, Anna turned her attention to the hobbit lying in her lap. "Frodo?" she asked, "Frodo are you alright?" She turned him over, and gasped at what she saw: his face had become frighteningly pallid, yet beaded with sweat drops. He could barely speak; any utterances he made consisted of short, strangled gasps for air. His eyes meanwhile, stared intensely at nothing while his head lolled around in Anna's lap.

"He's got an infection!" Sam said frantically, "But how!"

"I don't know," Strider said, "This shouldn't be happening…"

"In any case, we can't keep going like this any further!" Sam declared, "He needs bedrest and medicine!"

"We cannot stop here," Strider countered, "Rivendell's only a few days away, and it's too risky as it is! Night will be upon us soon enough."

"But Mister Frodo won't make it in time! We need to figure out what's wrong with him!"

Anna, meanwhile, stood by at a loss, unsure herself of what to do, and that scared her. As Sam and Strider continued to argue, with Merry and Pippin only occasionally joining in with their own thoughts, she could hardly stand the tension that crackled in the air. She turned to look behind her, and to her surprise found Elsa a good many yards away, the blue of her garb wavering against the heavy green of the forest behind them. Surprised at how her sister could disappear without alerting the others, Anna carefully stepped her way over to her, the sound of the debate fading behind her. The closer she got, the colder the air grew, until it came to a point where she needed to pull her cloak further over her shoulders.

Even with her back turned to her, Anna could see the despair that weighed heavily upon Elsa's shoulders, bending her spine, even if only slightly.

"Elsa," she said quietly, "You know this isn't your fault, right?"

No words came in response; Elsa only continued to wander forward towards the tree-line. Anna continued to follow close behind, until at last, her elder sister stopped to lean against a gnarled old tree.

Maybe now she could reach out to her. Maybe now she could offer some words of comfort to the soul who felt she needed to bear the world upon herself.

"You did everything you could," Anna went on, "at least, as far as I can tell, anyway—uh, I mean…"

"It wasn't the fire they saw, last night," Elsa whispered.

"Huh?"

"It was _me_," she said. She turned, and Anna saw fresh traces of tears running from her eyes. "They saw my magic. _That's _what drew them to our position. We might've been able to pass as any other traveler if it weren't for _me_! I'm such an idiot for thinking—"

"Elsa, stop talking like that!" Anna begged, "Yeah, so maybe none of us were using our heads last night, but you went up against five undead shadow-monsters all by yourself and showed them what you're made of for about, what, five minutes? I don't think any of us could have lasted a few seconds without you around! We're lucky to have gotten this far!"

Elsa, meanwhile, simply turned around again to lean against the tree.

"If I'm going to be honest," Anna went on, "And I'm going to be, let's not question that that, I'm the one who should've done more—a lot more—so much more. I'm the one who started this, so I should've been there! I just wish I knew how to use this thing!" she said, gesturing at the sword hanging at her waist in a makeshift scabbard. "I know you make your own swords, but you make it look so easy, and I just wish I could've helped, and—Elsa, are you even listening?"

It didn't seem like it. Instead, she had slowly risen upright, and now stroked the branch closest to her, her fingers sliding across the cracks and gaps in the bark.

"Um…Elsa?" Anna said.

She stepped away from that tree only to move onto the next one, searching its surface for something, but for what? Moving to the side a couple of steps, Anna could see that her sister's cool blue eyes were wide open, drinking in every bump, ridge and crevice in the bark.

"Elsa, is everything okay?" Anna asked, "I mean, it's a nice tree and everything, but I didn't think you were into that sort of thing..."

"I know these trees," Elsa whispered.

"Huh?"

"They've grown older, but I know them!" She then sprinted off a good couple of paces into the clearing, only to turn around and look at the forest edge again, as if to get a better look at them. Then she spun around in one direction, then suddenly back in the other direction. "I remember this place…" she continued, "It's just like I remember…then that means…maybe…!"

"What?" Anna asked, "What does it mean?"

Elsa didn't seem to notice her, her gaze darting around in all directions for a good few seconds or so, and a light smile drawing itself out on her face. Anna didn't quite know what to make of it; this was the first time that Elsa had shown any particular amount of familiarity with the scenery since Bree. She took a moment to look around herself; there were the trees, and past them the jagged tops of the rising stone.

Strange, she thought. A lingering sense of familiarity actually _did _come from this place…but why? Anna knew for a fact that she'd never set foot near here before…

She returned her attention to Elsa; she had turned again to the wall of trees before them. This time, her eyes seemed to be looking past them rather than straight at them. But for what?

A few long moments passed before Elsa whispered something that Anna didn't hear.

Then, without any warning, she took off into the forest, passing between a particular pair of trees.

"Elsa? Elsa, WAIT!" Anna shouted as she watched her sister vanish between the trees, "Where are you going?"

Elsa's blond head popped back into view from behind one of the trunks. "Get the others!" she shouted, "Tell them to come quickly!"

"But WHY?"

"JUST DO IT!"

Not knowing what else to do, and feeling frustrated by Elsa's sudden urge to keep things as mysterious as possible, Anna shrugged in confusion before turning around and waving her arms in the air to the rest of the party. "HEY!" she shouted, "ELSA's….um, FOUND…SOMETHING! THIS WAY! QUICK!"

Though clearly as confused as she was, the rest of the able-bodied party hopped onto their feet and start rushing as quickly as they could, with Strider leading the way, bearing Frodo in his arms, Merry and Pippin coming in second, and Sam bringing up the rear as he urged Bill to turn away from their original path. Once they caught up to a decent pace, Anna turned herself around to run into the cool forest, right between the trees where Elsa had gone.

The thick underbrush veiling the forest floor with ferns and shrubs, along with the occasionally well-hidden yet ill-placed tree-root or stump, slowed her pace—severely at times—but Anna kept her eye on the back of her sister. Elsa, meanwhile, weaved her way through without so much as a stumble, hopping over logs and ducking under low-lying branches easily. Every now and then she would pause, turn, check on their progress, and beckon them to hurry. In those sparse moments, Anna saw a growing excitement in her blue eyes, and wondered why it did so.

Suddenly her foot slipped on a broken branch. Her whole world swung forward and downward, and Anna found herself lying almost face-first in the detritus, her torso cringing from the pain of the impact. Lifting her face out of the collection of dead leaves and mulch, she only managed to catch a glimpse of a cluster of green plants tipped with white flowers nestled against a tree trunk before a strong arm lifted her back onto her feet. Surprised, she turned to see Strider behind her, while cradling Frodo with his other arm.

"Thanks," she said, spitting dirt and debris out of her mouth. She could barely hide the surprise on her face at his kindness, though his face remained as stoic as ever.

"Anna!" Elsa soon appeared, looking quite worried. "Anna, are you alright?" she asked, "I'm so sorry, I…"

"I'm fine," Anna replied, "It's Frodo we need to worry about. On that note, where exactly are you leading us, anyway?"

"I would assume somewhere she's quite familiar with," Strider said.

"Is this true?" Anna asked.

A smile crept across Elsa's face. "Come on!" she whispered, and soon enough she dashed back ahead.

With a hint of averseness, they resumed following her through the woods. This time, Anna made doubly sure to watch where her feet landed, but the ferns kept getting in the way.

Further and further they tromped and stumbled through the forest, desperately keeping track of every twist and turn that Elsa's feet led her to. At first it seemed like they weren't getting anywhere particularly fast. However, now that Anna got a good look at the surroundings, there was something oddly familiar about these woods, something that she hadn't picked up on before. But what was it? She just couldn't put her finger on it at all…

Before she knew it, the dark shade of the forest fell behind her as she stepped into the sunlight. Surprise pulled her jaw downward at the sight of what she could've mistaken for a large, misshapen boulder taller than herself, were it not for its off-white color and slight translucency. The huge mound of ice stood in the midst of a small grassy clearing, right in front of a wall of jagged limestone that rose high above them, bordering the sky along with the highest branches of the forest behind them to form a ring. A few paces away from the mound, Elsa stood in front of a large pair of doors that looked like they were made of—no, scratch that, definitely _were_ made of ice, but as if no human tool had any part in their formation, with a familiar snowflake symbol visible within the material itself, like a flaw in a diamond that only added to its quality.

"Oh my gosh," Anna whispered, "Is this…?"

"Yep," Elsa replied, "This is where I used to live…for a while, this was home. Trust me; it used to be in _much _better shape than this."

Anna couldn't believe her eyes. Elsa had spoken of this place before, but hearing of a place didn't hold a candle to actually standing in the place where an actual adventure had begun…Though if she were to be perfectly honest, it wasn't quite what she'd imagined it to be at first.

Strider soon came up from behind, followed by the rest of the hobbits with the pony. All of them to varying degrees gazed around the place with widened eyes.

"We'll be safe, here," Elsa explained, "at least for the night. If anything happens, we can all retreat into the…" she paused as she looked back at the doors. "That's right," she said. "Hold on."

While the rest of the party continued to examine the place, Anna ran to catch up with Elsa in front of the doors. Upon closer inspection, she found that there were no doorknobs to pull the door with. Furthermore, deep cuts and gashes marred the surface like old scars, along with patches where the ice seemed to bend inward in a bowl shape.

"Looks like at least _someone _managed to find this place while I was gone," Elsa observed, "and they tried very hard to get inside."

"How is this even still here?" Anna asked.

"Simple; I made it so that the only way someone—other than me—would want to get in is to push the doors from the inside," Elsa replied.

"Then how come nobody tried to just _pull _it open?" Anna queried.

"For anyone else—other than me of course-they're _really _heavy. But now…"

She held her hand out towards the doors and waved it in a soft undulating motion before pulling it backward, and as she did so, the doors actually dissolved into a shimmering, silvery blue mist before finally vanishing away on a breeze. Upon their disappearance, frigid air burst out of the cave, its chill blasting Anna like an ocean wave. She shuddered heavily at the sudden temperature drop, her arms wrapping around her instinctively. Elsa, meanwhile, walked right on in without so much of a second thought, and after a moment's delay, Anna followed right after her, stepping out of the grass and into the cavern's dark mouth.

And then she slipped.

"Anna! Are you alright?" Elsa said as she ran back to her sister's aid.

Anna groaned at the pain erupting in her rear end. "I'll make it," she responded as Elsa helped her back onto her feet. At first, she wondered how in the world she'd slipped on the floor of a cave of all things so easily—and then, she saw her face looking up towards her from a polished surface of what she could've sworn was pure crystal.

"I'm so sorry!" Elsa said, "I really should've warned you about the floor."

Looking upward, Anna quietly gasped as she looked around her; the cavern only went back about forty feet or so, but a thick layer of ice covered every last inch, and in a way that looked as if the entire place had never been cut from limestone, but of a geode filled with jewels of cool blues, violets, and even pinks that flashed from different facets. Thick pillars with perfectly cut sides stood embedded within the walls as supports for the ceiling, from which a chandelier of glistening shards hung and reflected the incoming light into hundreds of small sparkles. Below it stood a small round column jutting up from the floor, with a partly melted candle on top of it. Across from that on the left stood a bed shielded by a blanket made from very old fur. Across from it on the right, dozens of sculptures lined shelves running all across the wall; their shapes ran the gamut from being very abstract if not outright crude, to soft, elegant figures that might as well have been made out of pure glass.

The image of Elsa's room back in Arendelle came to mind quite vividly.

"Wow," Anna whispered as soon as she was back on two feet, her breath visible in the cold air.

"It's not much," Elsa said, "but like I said, this was home."

"Are you _kidding?_" Anna said, "Elsa, it's _beautiful!_ I'm surprised you didn't make your own _castle_!"

"_That_ would have done nothing good for me," Elsa replied, "Especially in these parts. I just wish the garden and the fire-pit were still around, but that's not the case."

Fairly soon, the rest of the party arrived at the cavern mouth as well, and after everyone had a fair look at the interior, Strider and Elsa both spurred everyone to prepare the area. Over the course of the next hour, they cleared as much grass as they could (through which they discovered a small ring of stones that Elsa identified as her fire-pit), gathered firewood and started a small fire, with which they used to light three torches for Strider, Merry, and Pippin to hold, just in time as the sun started to finally fade away from the sky, and the dark of night began to draw upon them.

They set Frodo upon the fur blanket close to the fire, but even the glimmer and heat didn't seem to draw him out from the disturbing trance he fell into. For whatever reason, he seemed desperate to cry out in pain, but the only sounds to come out of his throat were short gasps and yelps, as though some invisible hand were pressing down upon his throat and strangling him. On top of that, the very color of his eyes had changed to a cold blue, more so than usual, as they stared past everyone and everything towards the darkened skies above.

While Strider went and stood guard, holding his lit torch aloft towards the now shadowy woods beyond, the others gathered around Frodo. Sam took upon himself the duty of medical investigation; pulling Frodo's cloak, jacket and shirt out of the way, he came upon the bandage, and carefully peeled it off of his skin. Everyone cringed at the sight of what they saw; the wound stood open as a gaping black hole, the very tissue darkening around it far beyond even what a normal untreated injury should look like. Darkened veins and blood vessels branched away from it and spread across his shoulder and chest like black roots over pale earth. Anna even felt slightly sick at the sight of it, not so much for what it was, but rather for what it was doing.

She felt the air beside her suddenly become very chill, though she stood well outside of the ice cave. Looking to her side, she saw her sister's forehead wrinkle with the widening of her eyes, and even a few snowflakes drift through the air.

"Oh Mister Frodo," Sam whispered, his very voice wavering, "What is this? How did this happen?"

Then, quite suddenly, Anna saw the flash of something dark and cruel go through her memory.

"…Maybe it has to do with that sword?" she ventured.

Strider spun around suddenly, the glow of his torch flashing in the night. "What sword?" he asked, his eyes piercing upon her.

"Th-the sword that wraith-guy was holding," Anna stammered, feeling very intimidated, "the one he used to stab Frodo. He dropped it after you showed up, and then I picked it up—and it looked like the tip of it broke off—but then it just…the blade just _melted_! Blew away like dust in the wind!"

After hearing this, Strider came over and looked at the wound himself. His face only turned grimmer at the sight of it, surely a sign that something truly terribly operated here.

"Then it is as I feared," Strider murmured, "That was no ordinary weapon; 'twas a _Morgul _blade that pierced Frodo."

"A what-now? What does that mean?" Anna asked.

"Is he going to die?" Pippin asked as well.

"Worse," Strider explained, "He's being pulled into the shadow realm. If the poison reaches his heart, then he'll become a wraith like them, unless we get him to Rivendell."

Part of Anna became chilled at the thought of Frodo becoming one of those…_things, _she felt compelled to call them, while the other part of her wondered how well a very short wraith would affect their enemy's image. That part became silenced when a very loud, strained gasp burst from Frodo's mouth, nearly startling everyone.

And in response, several long wailing shrieks echoed somewhere in the distance, like wolves responding to the howling of one of their own. However, everyone knew that no wolf could make such a call, or any earthly thing for that matter. And that allowed a cold far more terrible to pierce the heart than anything Anna had come across thus far.

"They're close," Merry whispered.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Sam begged, "Anything at all!?"

"This is beyond my skill to heal him," Strider said, "But perhaps we can slow the poison…"

"_How?_"

"_Athelas_…" Elsa whispered.

Everyone, even Strider, turned to her in surprise. "You know of it?" he asked.

Elsa nodded, and then kneeled to look Sam in the eye. "Listen to me very closely," she said, "I need you to find a small green plant with tiny white flowers on it."

"Kingsfoil?" Sam said, "That's just a weed!"

"No, trust me, it's not," Elsa replied.

Though it took a moment during the conversation, Anna realized what Elsa was talking about, in more ways than one. "Oh! I think I saw some back on the way here; it was under a tree!"

"Good. Now, Sam, go and get me as much as you can, and Strider, you get some too. Merry, Pippin, go to the back of the cave and bring me back a small pot and a bowl. Quickly, now!"

Though at first this sudden show of confidence and authority came off as a bit surprising, ultimately no one hesitated to carry out her orders, Strider even seeming pleased to do so; while he and Sam struck off (or rather in Sam's case, scampered) into the woods, Merry and Pippin, meanwhile, bolted into the cavern, taking the torches with them. Elsa and Anna, meanwhile, knelt down beside Frodo, with Anna holding the hobbit's far smaller hand in her own. She stiffened slightly at the freezing touch of his fingers; if it weren't for the pulse, she could've sworn she held the hand of a cadaver.

"Are you sure it will work?" Anna asked.

"Anna, it saved the life of a friend of mine long ago," Elsa replied, "It should help Frodo…if…"

"If what?"

"Well, the thing is that it'll heal, but if I remember correctly, if we want it to _really _work, then we need the right elven spell to do it, or someone with the pure blood of a king in their veins."

"Well, I guess we both qualify on that second part!" Anna said, feeling her heart lifting. For once, she felt actually useful to have around on this quest—or rather, she realized, her sister did, being the one who knew about the spell to begin with…

"Yes," Elsa responded, "…If only I could remember the words to the spell…"

That part did not feel so uplifting. Still, if there was the slightest of chances…

Merry and Pippin soon returned with a small, battered tin saucepan in the former's free hand. Into this, Elsa conjured and deposited a couple cubes of ice into it, and requested that he hold his torch beneath it. She explained that the ice would melt and eventually boil, and by the time that it did, Sam and Strider would return with the kingsfoil, thus giving them the means to form a poultice.

Sam and Strider's return, unfortunately, turned out to be longer than anticipated. They waited in the glow of the firelight, their only shield against the cold silence in the blackness that, every now and again, a series of prolonged wailing shrieks echoed through, echoed by Frodo's own gasping yelps right beside them.

Soon enough they soon had water where once they had ice, but now they waited for it to boil—something that Anna, during the cooking lesson's she'd sat through once and again, had never been keen on. With their enemy not too afar, it became akin to a mental torture, as her thoughts drew again to the night of the wraith's attacks. She remembered holding the Morgul sword, its weight cumbersome in her hands, seeing the broken tip of it, and then her shock at how the blade dissolved into dust and blew away on the night wind in the moonlight, leaving her only with the handle. She wondered, would it have helped if she'd said something about the broken tip or even the sword melting? It seemed as though Strider missed the handle altogether; why hadn't she pointed it out? Would pointing out the oddity have given them a chance to save Frodo sooner?

She hated herself for not having said or done anything to help upon Weathertop. She hated herself more for going along with the plan to start a small fire while her sister slept. What more, she hated those wraiths for putting every one of them into this fear, with their cursed pursuit and driving them all, especially Elsa, into this living terror…

"…All for the want of that stupid ring," she quietly whispered, so no one but herself could hear. Now more than ever, she wanted to relieve him of the burden, and take it away, far away, where no one else could touch it…

…No one but her.

To her surprise, Frodo slowly turned his head, looking past the fire and into the woods beyond with wide eyes.

"Frodo?" she started to ask, "What's…?"

The beating of hooves suddenly became audible, shuddering the night air in the direction of where he gazed.

Upon hearing the sound, Elsa stood upon her feet again, and with a flick of her arm, her sword materialized in her hand, while chilling winds swirled about her, bearing flakes of snow upon them. From below, Anna could see the cold anger burning in her eyes, something she rarely saw. "Stay behind me," she ordered as she stepped around the fire and towards the noise. Merry and Pippin rushed behind Anna, while she remained where she kneeled, keeping Frodo's cold hand in hers…

To everyone's surprise, the horse that burst in upon their clearing was white in color rather than black, with a leaner form borne upon long legs that seemed slender even for a horse. There could also be no mistaking its rider for anything else but a young woman in green riding gear and cloth, with lengthy dark brown hair tied into a braid in the back with the rest framing a fair, narrow face. The scabbard for a long, curving sword hung at her side.

The woman rider stopped a short distance away from Elsa, who stepped back herself, the wind fading away and the sword disappearing altogether. "Who are you?" she asked.

"A friend from Rivendell," the woman replied in a voice like a soft breeze, "You must be Queen Elsa of Arendelle, no?"

Elsa nodded slightly.

"I've been looking for your party for two days, now," the other woman explained upon the confirmation, "I was beginning to give up hope, until now."

"What about the wraiths?" Elsa asked, "Where are they, now?"

"Five of them are behind you," she reported, "Where the other four are, I do not know. Now, let me see Frodo."

She dismounted, and came up to the group of them, kneeling down beside the hobbit, who in turn continued to gaze upon her with a look of fear and awe. As she moved aside to allow her room, Anna could that full lips, rose-colored cheeks, and almond-shaped eyes with irises of blue composed that face of hers. More importantly, she saw the pointed ears barely hidden within her locks of hair.

"Frodo," she said to him, "_im _Arwen_. Telin le thaed._ _Lasto beth nîn, tolo dan nan galad_."

Frodo turned away, and resumed his gasping for breath. Soon enough Strider arrived, holding a clump of the green plants with white flowers in his hand. Sam, meanwhile, came up from behind, carrying some of his own. "What's going on?" he asked, "Who is—is she…?"

"Sam," Anna whispered to him, "She's an _elf!_" She herself could barely contain her own amazement at this encounter. Remembering full well the sight they saw on the way to Bree, she never thought she'd be so close to an actual elf and this soon, no less. She would have to admit that she was very beautiful—and with that would've came a confession of jealously on her part.

Though the elf-woman beckoned to him, Frodo made little in the way of response. Strider, meanwhile, tore off a piece of the kingsfoil, and much to Anna's astonishment, chewed it up in his mouth before placing the resulting paste into the wound. At its touch, Frodo yelped louder than before.

"He's fading," the elf-woman said, "We must get him to my father."

With that, Strider picked Frodo up from off the bearskin and carried him to the elf-woman's horse, in spite of Merry's resulting protest, and sat him upon the saddle.

"_Dartho guin Beriain_," Aragorn said to her, "_Rych le ad tolthathon_."

"_Hon mabathon_," she replied, "_Rochon ellint im_."

"_Andelu i ven," _he protested.

"What are they saying?" Pippin whispered.

Anna could only shrug. Though she herself didn't understand a word they were saying to each other, Anna did recognize the tones they exchanged to each other, one commanding but caring, the other more defiant and confident. More importantly, she saw the way the two's eyes gazed upon each other as they spoke in their strange, elegant tongue; she knew it to be more than one mere acquaintances looked at each other with. After all, she'd seen that sort of look in Kristoff's eyes before.

"_Frodo fîr. Ae athradon i hîr_," the elf-woman went on, "_tûr gwaith nîn beriatha hon. Amin il gorga sen._"

He placed his strong hand upon her delicate gloved one, and for what must have been ten seconds (at least it seemed so to Anna), the gaze passing between them intensified. That told her more than she ever needed to know about the two of them.

"_Be iest lîn_," Strider whispered.

The elf-woman gave a gentle smile, and with Strider's help, hoisted herself back upon the horse's back, keeping Frodo in front of her on the saddle.

"Wait!" Elsa said. She came up to the woman, anxiety fresh in her eyes. "Please," she pleaded, "Promise me you'll get Frodo there safely. If anything happens, I…just don't know what I'd…"

"I will" the elf-woman replied, "You have my word, O Queen."

Elsa acknowledged this with a nod. With a word of encouragement from Strider, the elf-woman said something to the horse in her language, and like a bolt the animal galloped away into the woods, its white hide fading away in the trees along with its passengers.

The remaining party watched their departure, with no small amount of awe and apprehension and between them. Strider eventually turned away from the edge of the woods back towards the cave and the campfire.

Sam suddenly broke the silence. "What are you thinkin'?" he practically shouted at the ranger, "Those wraiths are still out there!"

Strider gave no response. In her heart, Anna knew that Sam was right. The time for intervention had passed, however, and all she could do now was pray for the two of them.

The rest of the party, meanwhile, fell into silence.

**Author's Note:****Did you think I was dead?**

**Seriously though, numerous apologies for having taken so long to write this chapter. Putting down the original stuff is actually a lot trickier than you'd think (this does not bode too well for my other projects), but I wanted to get it right. Add having a new job, schoolwork, filing taxes, and too many distractions on top of it, you get an idea of what I've been through. Here's hoping the next chapter doesn't take too long, this time.**


	8. Chapter 8: Back on the Old Road

A chill, yet gleaming morning full of sun followed a restless, uncertain night. Even before the birds let loose their tentative songs, Strider shook everyone from getting perhaps the proper amount of sleep, intending that the party reach Rivendell and rejoin Frodo as soon as possible. Out of all the remaining company, Sam seemed the most compliant, whipping up a hastier, and sloppier, breakfast than what they'd grown accustomed to. It led Anna to wonder if he in fact had been up all night in anticipation of their departure.

Regardless of his eagerness, though, it still took a fair amount of time for Merry and Pippin to help prepare, leaving enough time for Anna to wonder where in the world Elsa had gone off to; she couldn't be found anywhere in the clearing, but it didn't take long for Anna's still revitalizing brain to assume that she'd gone back inside the cavern. She also made the assumption that she in fact spent the night there as well, whereas everyone else chose to sleep outside in the relatively warmer air—as well as a fair distance away from the towering ice pillar nearby as it gave off its own cold.

Recalling what had happened before, Anna treaded very carefully as she entered the chilling cool of the ice cavern. To her surprise, it didn't take her very long to find Elsa; she stood by the old bed, seemingly ready to go in her old traveling clothes, but stuck in place, as it were, gazing all around her in a quiet contemplation. She stood there with her back towards the exit, and in turn towards Anna.

"Hey. Elsa?" Anna said, "Everyone's almost ready to go."

"I know," Elsa responded.

"Then what's the hold up? Oh, do you have any leftovers stored here? That could _really _come in handy!"

"Oh no; there's no way any rations could keep this long."

"Oh, okay then. Is something wrong?"

"No, no, it's just…" Elsa started. She turned around to face her sister, and Anna saw nestled within her hand one of the small ice sculptures from off of the shelf. Its crudeness hindered immediate identification, but upon closer inspection, Anna discovered that it took the shape of a bird perched upon a thick branch.

"Oh, Elsa," Anna said, "It's lovely!"

"It's one of the first I made while I was here," Elsa explained. She turned her head to look at the long shelves stacked with the rest of her small ice sculptures across from them. Once she herself looked at them, Anna noticed that each sculpture superseded the one before it in craftsmanship—with a few exceptions that broke the pattern, but those seemed more experimental than accidental.

"You've made so many," Anna observed, "I guess you had a lot of spare time, huh?"

Elsa nodded. "Truth be told," she went on, looking back down at the bird in her hands, "I never really finished working on this one. I think I was making soup for the first time, and was trying to figure out how long to cook it—and then I realized the soup was burning and…"

She then took a deep breath, and said, "It's been ages since I've been in here. It's so weird…I lived in this place for so long and learned so much in that time. Then I just left it without a moment's thought, and now, I'm just going to leave it again…I don't know if I can. I've said it before, I know, but this _was _home for me. There are so many memories here…"

Anna scrunched her brow and crinkled her nose in thought for a moment, letting her sister's words sink in for her to chew on.

"I don't think that's quite right," she answered at last, "The home thing, I mean."

"What are you talking about?" Elsa said, turning to her with tempered confusion raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Anna replied, "You were all alone here-as in completely by yourself-with no one to talk to-right?"

"Of course," Elsa answered, "Why wouldn't I have been?"

"The way I see it," Anna continued, "a home is something you share with someone else, along with all the memories you get along the way. Without that…it just isn't real. It's just someplace you stay to rest for a while, y'know, like the inn."

Elsa opened her mouth and raised a hand as if to protest, but both hung about for a moment before slowly retracting back into place. Her eyes, meanwhile, drifted away and focused on nothing in particular, lost in thought as it would seem, only to fall back onto the ice bird in her other hand.

Anna felt a little surprised at this response. Had she truly said something profound?

Then, she watched as both hands covered the small sculpture, almost completely concealing it. A blue glow seeped past Elsa's fingers for a moment before her hands came apart again, and the ice bird itself came flapping out of the resulting burst of light. In the split second that it flew past her, Anna saw that delicate feathers, each made of ice and as thin as paper, covered its entire body, causing it to glisten and shine in differing, radiant colors in its flight. It even chirped and sang as it fluttered towards the light shining in from the entrance to the cave, and once it reached that point, it suddenly dissipated into hundreds of shimmering particles that in turn vanished into nothing.

"Now it's finished," Elsa declared, smiling softly.

Before Anna could ask why she did that, Strider's voice came echoing through the cavern from further beyond the entrance, calling their names.

"We're coming!" Elsa shouted in response, startling Anna slightly. Together they headed towards the light outside. Back outside the cavern's mouth, they found Strider and the remaining hobbits, wearing tired, if not impatient, expressions, waiting for them. Even Bill the pony seemed to have the same look in his eye as he stood next to Sam.

"Apologies for the delay, gentlemen," Elsa replied, "I just needed to attend to something before we departed."

"Is there anything else that needs attending to?" Strider asked.

Elsa shook her head at the inquiry. With that, Strider bid them all to move forward. And forward they went to the line of trees that stood as if to bid them goodbye and see them along their way…

They hadn't reached ten steps of the clearing's edge, however, before Elsa suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Actually," she said, "Now that you bring it up, there is one last thing I should take care of."

She turned around to look towards the cave again. Without a word she raised her hands toward it, and streaks of shimmering blue shot forth. They entered inside, and as they brushed its walls, the very ice began to soundlessly break apart and dissolve into smaller pieces before flowing out and coalescing into a great swirling vortex. With seemingly little effort, Elsa guided the great glittering mass into into the air, moving it far past the forest canopy and eventually the edge of the cliff, and even a little further beyond. Then at last, she waved her hands away, and the cloud burst, vanishing into nothing. Looking back, all that was left was a humble cave made of rock, and nothing more.

Most of the party gazed upon the display of her powers and the the result of her efforts looking rather dumbfounded, Merry perhaps most of all.

"I should have done that a long time ago," Elsa sighed, a soft smile gracing her face.

With nothing more to say on the matter, the party finally turned and headed into the forest. As they went, Elsa leaned over to Anna, and whispered, "Come on. We're going home."

Anna grinned brightly at that.

* * *

While the terrain did provide plenty in the way of missing steps and uneven footing once the party left Elsa's hiding place, it actually seemed easier for the odd little band to travel over. Even the downward slope they came across, though it appeared otherwise at first, turned out to be a far cry from the upward struggle they fought just a few days ago. None of them felt ready to confess whether or not a simple change in the weather deserved the credit, or if Arwen's carrying Frodo away had anything to do it. To answer in either regard could either mark one a blatant liar or heartless. If anything, however, the resolve to get to Rivendell still remained as it did before.

In any case, this day marked a noticeable change in attitude for many in the party once they got their bearings. Sam, for instance, would have charged far ahead of the rest of them if it weren't for Strider leading the way. Instead, he came in second, huffing and puffing and mumbling odd obscenities to no one in particular as he went. With Strider, on the other hand, his perpetually resolute exterior camouflaged any hint of worry or distress as he led the group forward. Merry and Pippin simply glanced warily at the forest around them growing darker with their descent. Elsa did so as well—but clearly with a different focus in mind. Her eyes drifted around the woods and rocks, occasionally locking onto some odd minute detail like an old toy from childhood just barely retrieved from the nursery, while taking silent notes of whatever change had been added or subtracted. Overall though, her search obviously lacked the same kind of intensity Anna witnessed the day before. She wondered, how many times had Elsa wandered through these woods before?

Bill the Pony, meanwhile and for obvious reasons, could not exactly be spoken for.

After finishing their descent down the slope and stumbling through the underbrush foliage, the party came upon something many of them didn't expect: an actual, level path in the forest. It evidently hadn't seen travelers for many years. Whoever used it last, however, were much larger than anything Anna had seen, large enough to knock aside old trees and cleave rocks in two. In spite of this, the party decided to take this path for its ease, in comparison to the one they might've originally taken, and followed it deeper and deeper into the forest's growing darkness.

The further on they went, two things began to increase quite visibly; Merry and Pippin's anxiety, and the look of familiarity in Elsa's eyes, as well as the excitement pulling at the corners of her mouth. It stirred Anna's curiosity as well; was this someplace where she'd hit a difficult target or something? Once again, the thought of Elsa using her powers to actually _kill _something—and succeeding, no less-made her feel somewhat queasy.

The path then suddenly took a dive down a slope, curving to the left out of sight behind a rock-studded hill. Dutifully following it, they went around the corner, and discovered, much to their surprise, the mouth of a cavern gaping from the hill itself, framed by large stones. Here they halted, with Pippin asking to be excused to conduct some private business in the bushes. While they waited for his return, the rest of them decided to investigate. What they found sparked a great amount of curiosity, and perhaps anxiety, amongst the less-traveled in the company; all around the entrance laid bits and pieces of rusted metal, shattered clay pots, and other miscellanea, poking up through the leafy detritus. When they leaned into the cavern to take a closer look, only the shells of pottery and old bones laid strewn about to greet them in the suffocating gloom.

"If this is what I think it is," Merry declared, "Then we need to leave this place, now."

"This place has been forsaken for a long time, friend," Strider informed him, "You've nothing to fear."

"…Can I get a second opinion on that?" Merry responded.

Elsa walked over to his side, and in the process, Anna saw a curiously wry twist in her smile as she did so, as if she was in on some great joke.

"Well," her sister said as she crouched down to Merry's eye-level, "If it makes you feel better, we can always just—"

A sudden yelp shot through the bushes, followed swiftly by Pippin bursting out of the foliage in a mad dash back to the party wearing a pale face dripping with sweat.

"Trolls!" he gasped, "There's trolls nearby!"

"Trolls?" Anna repeated. The word tumbled out of her mouth in utter confusion.

"Aye; three of them, HUGE ones," Pippin panted, "I don't know if they spotted me, but I'm not hanging around to find out!

Before panic could swamp the group, Elsa bolted to Pippin and clutched him by the shoulders. "Calm down," she said, kneeling down and looking him dead in the eye, "Where did you see these trolls?"

"Down there!" he answered, pointing back down where he came from, "They're all in a small clearing; I could see them through the tree trunks!"

On hearing that, Elsa turned her head to look at Strider. Her odd little smile had strengthened, and a raised eyebrow accompanied it as well. Strider's eyebrows only rose a little bit in response. Anna's suspicions, however, went through the roof.

"Very well then," Elsa said, "Let's go see what they're up to."

"WHAT?" Sam exclaimed.

Before any more protest could be made, Elsa set off rather casually in the given direction, with Strider following close behind. Her own curiosity taking control, Anna soon followed right after, eager to see what this 'troll' business could possibly be. After a delay of debatable length, the remaining hobbits hurried to catch up to her.

As they stumbled over the rough terrain and around the tree trunks, Anna leafed through the pages of her mind, hoping to remember something she had seen in Elsa's memories from so long ago. Time, however, seemed to be a crueler librarian when it came to borrowed memories than earned ones; as much as she tried to, the only trolls she could recall were the ones who allowed her to speak to Elsa through her mind and see her memories, and even then only to a certain degree. When Anna saw those memories, it seemed to her like she'd been handed an old, worn out quilt passed through too many hands with no hope of repair, and falling apart into pieces once it reached hers, taking the scene away with it with a rather uncanny swiftness. Only through proper guesswork could Anna discern some of the important information. Any other information came from the stories Elsa told in moments of recollection when the two sisters were alone together beside the fireplace. This combination of factors forced Anna to fill in the blanks herself, and thus far the composite picture proved to be a woefully erroneous one with every step she'd taken in this strange world. Still, she couldn't help but feel excited at seeing these trolls, and wonder how Pippin could be scared of such friendly, energetic, blunt, loud beings…

Then again, perhaps she'd answered her own question.

Before she knew it, however, the party halted in their tracks, standing still with baited breath. Strider and Elsa stood at the front, very still yet very much at the ready. Anna swiveled her head around to try and see what the problem was; her gaze went downward and behind, and she glimpsed the three hobbits crouched behind her, like rabbits ready to bolt at any moment. Turning back around, though, and soon she saw the cause: three huge figures, like wrinkled grey mounds, loomed ahead in the trees, one standing, and the others stooping down. Anna gasped at the sheer, unexpected sight of them, her own chest filling with the cold of terror.

Ahead, to Anna's surprise, Elsa actually relaxed and strode boldly forth into the clearing, walking right between two of the figures. She tried to follow after her sister, but Strider's surprisingly strong hand restrained her from doing so.

Before anyone could say a word, Elsa walked right before the foremost one and stood before it with her hands placed squarely on her hips and a broad, daring smile on her face.

"Long time no see, big guy!" she said quite loudly, "Remember me?"

No response came, even as Elsa reached out and flicked the giant being with her finger, sending particles of rock flying off. Looking back, Elsa called out to the rest of the party, saying, "It's alright, everyone! Come on out! They won't bite."

Strider stepped out first, with a relaxed attitude betraying the fact that he'd been in on the joke the whole time. Anna and the three hobbits followed along, and soon, everyone beheld the three naked monsters frozen in place, their faces curled into perpetual sneers and grimaces, and thick clumps of moss and grass draped across their cracked and weathered hides. An unassuming bird's nest, meanwhile, sat quietly behind the ear of one of the beasts.

After a sigh of relief, the three eyes of the three hobbits soon lit up in recognition. "Well I'll be," Sam started, "its Mister Bilbo's trolls!"

"How did we get near this place?" Pippin wondered aloud, "I can't believe it; I know the story front to back, but I never thought I'd see a record of it with my own eyes!"

"And yet," said Strider, "You forgot that no troll can stand in the sunlight and not be turned to stone." To demonstrate, he took a stick and whacked it against the lowered arm of one of the statues, breaking it in two against the stone. "Next time you want to even think about scaring me with something like this, make sure you know what you're seeing, Master Took."

Anna only stared in disbelief at the trio of gargoyle-esque creatures in front of her, while her mind tried to piece things together. At last, though, she finally got around to speaking.

"No," she stated, "No no no no no; I know trolls, and these are NOT trolls. Ogres, maybe, if we're going to try and be specific…"

"What are you talking about, Anna?" Merry asked, "Of course these are trolls! Troll statues, rather, but still!"

Before a debate could get underway, Elsa intervened, stepping between her sister and the Brandybuck. "Well, things are a bit different where we're from," she hastily explained, "Anyway, we need to keep moving…"

Before any response could be given, Strider silenced everyone in the party with a quick hush. Experience giving them a good reason to heed him, the group swiftly stood still and held their breath, their eyes darting in every direction. Anna saw no dark shadows swooping through the trees as far as she could tell…but then her ears picked up on something…hooves, that was it, but not the heavy drumming she'd come to fear. Rather it sounded more akin to clicking…and then she heard something else…something tinkling…could it be bells?

At that moment, a horse burst into the clearing before them—not a black horse, but a gleaming white horse like the one Arwen sat upon the night prior, lean and pretty with parts of its bridle glittering as though studded with gems. Its rider, meanwhile, possessed a fair, youthful face and bore long, golden locks of hair that flowed from his head like a soft forest stream, mirroring the cloak that trailed behind him and exposing the pointed ears that betrayed his heritage. As soon as he saw Strider he called out, "_Ai na vedui D__ú__nadan! Mae govanmen!_"

Almost immediately, Strider relaxed at the sight and came forward, with everyone else trailing behind him, Sam being foremost out of them.

"Hail, friend," Strider said to the Elf. To everyone else, he said, "This is Glorfindel, who dwells in the house of Elrond".

"Oh, well then," Anna said, "Pleasure to meet you!"

"Greetings, travelers," Glorfindel replied, "Especially to thee, fair Elsa, Queen of Arendelle."

"Oh!" Elsa said in soft surprise, "Well, thank you, kind sir."

"I did not expect to see you here," Strider continued, "what brings you into these parts?"

"Master Elrond sent me from Rivendell," Glorfindel explained, "when he heard word that the Nine were abroad in these lands. We feared that you were in danger upon the roads."

"Well founded were those fears, I should say," Stride replied, "We encountered them at Amun Sul, and they wounded Frodo at the time."

"How terrible! Well then, fear not; I shall hasten the journey and bring young Master Baggins with me if need be so Lord Elrond may heal him from such a grave wounding. Now tell me friend, which one of these hobbits is he?"

An awkward silence hung over the group. Anna bit her lip and glanced at Elsa, who raised a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry my friend," Strider said at last, "he's not here with us."

"Oh no!" Glorfindel practically gasped, "He's not…?"

"Oh, no no no no!" Anna interrupted, "Not like that at all, it's just…well, we really appreciate that you came all this way out here, we really do, so nice of you, it's just that…well, we, uh…"

"Well, what is it?"

"Lady Arwen came last night," Elsa answered at last, "and took Frodo with her back to Rivendell. That was the last we saw of him."

Glorfindel sat still upon his horse, his face as still and solemn as a Greek statue, for five or so seconds before he spoke again.

"You're pulling my leg," he said plainly.

"I'm afraid it's true," Strider affirmed.

"And you just let her go?" Glorfindel continued, growing more and more dumbstruck, "…I apologize. Do not take me for an ingrate, tis good that Master Frodo is on his way, it's just…"

"Oh, it's okay! We absolutely understand," Anna said, "I'd be upset too if I rode all the way out here to find out someone did my job for me..."

"We do thank you for your service, Glorfindel," Elsa finished.

"Yes, indeed," Glorfindel replied, "…well then, I shan't leave you all out here on your own. I shall escort you all back to Rivendell with me. I apologize for not bringing more horses with me, but perhaps we shall cross paths with the search party later on."

"What search party?" Sam asked.

"Lady Arwen took off late into the night after we received the news back at Rivendell," Glorfindel explained, "Lord Elrond sent some of his men to find her as well as Master Baggins. Knowing what I know now, she may be on her way there already. Now, come along; we are but two days from Rivendell, and we shall go there with great haste."

The entire party thanked him again, and followed right behind him after that, some with more vigor than the rest. As they trailed him, Anna couldn't help but lean over to Elsa and whisper, "Poor guy. I mean it; he went through all that trouble…"

"Well, Elsa replied, "he seems to be taking it well—well enough, anyways. Still, I wasn't expecting that bit about Arwen."

"I know, right? Can you imagine if Momma and Poppa were still around and we tried to do something like that?"

"You _did _try to do something like that," Elsa pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but only to look for _you!_" Anna said.

"No, before _that_," Elsa corrected, "I'm talking about when we were teenagers. You remember when that ambassador got lost on the eastern road, and you thought he was going to be _so _handsome…"

"What? _No,_ I don't remember that."

"Probably because Poppa went and grabbed you right off the horse before you could take off."

"Oh, right…Wait, you know about that?"

"Momma joked about it for a good couple of weeks after that," Elsa explained, smiling as she did.

The embarrassment of it, though very mild, held Anna back for a moment. Then she realized how open Elsa had been about the whole thing. Usually, hardly anything came out from her lips concerning anything from their childhood…not that Anna didn't welcome it or anything like that. Far from it as a matter of fact.

* * *

The following two days after meeting Glorfindel rolled by without much in the way of any major incident—a welcome change given the events of the previous two weeks. However, as the distance between them and the Stone Trolls grew greater, many in the company found great difficulty in following closely enough behind Glorfindel and his horse, given how swiftly the beast's steps were, even for a horse. To great despair, rest did not come with the setting of the sun; though no rider in black came after them, Glorfindel insisted that they keep on their feet and walk through the moonless, starless night, straight into the grey morning. At that point, exhaustion took everyone, even Strider to a certain degree, into a heavy sleep…only for Glorfindel to wake them with only a few hours of sleep to their claim. To his credit, though, he did give them a sip of a clear, flavorless drink that filled their forms with an uncommon vigor.

Even with that aid and five hours' worth of rest, though, they were still forced to rest at the end of that day and sleep their exhaustion away.

With the next day, they left the forested hills behind and entered grassy terrain once again, over which the three hobbits tramped over every once in a while to massage the worn soles of their feet. That did not last long, once noon passed its way, great pine trees surrounded them, preceding a sudden descent through a crevasse of rock colored deep red and dripping with moisture. The echoes of their footsteps slapped about the stone walls, following them as they passed through what could've easily been mistaken for a wall of light into the open. Here, they could see open flat land at the bottom of a sharp slope before them, divided by the river as it wound its way through, with the ford right in their path. After that, the land rose abruptly into a steep bank, and they could see the small pale thread of a path snaking its way up into the domain of towering peaks that stretched far above as if to touch the sky above.

After gazing up at the colossal mountains, Anna looked back down at the ford below…and noticed something odd about the land surrounding it. She couldn't tell exactly why, nor could she do so before being urged on to move on by the rest of her party. Down, down they descended through the wooded slope, careful to watch their step along the way, until at last they reached the bottom, and once again their footing became even. Here, everyone saw what Anna could only barely discern at first; the ground beneath their feet, though distant from the river, seemed freshly drenched and smoothed out, while saplings and patches of grass lay uprooted and strewn across the plain like fallen soldiers on the battlefield. Every now and then, they could pick out the dead body of an unfortunate mouse or hare, each one soaked to the bone.

"There was a flood-burst here," Strider deduced, "Barely a day or two old."

"But why?" Pippin questioned.

"I may have a theory," Glorfindel mused, "and if I'm right, we may have not to fear the Wraiths for now."

They continued on their way until at last they reached the ford itself, running along its chosen path as though nothing at all happened, ignorant of the destruction the travelers had just witnessed. Curiously enough, any evidence of a flood could not be found at all on the opposite riverbank.

Here, the party ran into a slight conundrum; Elsa remembered that once her feet so much touched the water, the whole ford could turn to ice, possibly risking trapping everyone else in place before they could make it to the other side. At first she elected to remain behind while everyone else crossed, and after which she would follow and unfreeze the river—but Glorfindel would have none of it. Instead, he dismounted his horse, and placed her upon its back in spite of her protest. So it was that she rode across, while the rest of them waded. Struggling to keep the hem of her dress above water, Anna clumsily stepped her way over the weathered stones below—and in the meantime felt a glimmer of jealously towards the men and their trousers, and even towards her sister on the horse.

Suddenly her footing failed, and she fell towards the water. She kept herself from landing face first in the river water, but unfortunately battered her hands against the stones in the water in the process. Sam came splashing towards her, and, as best as he could, he helped her back onto her feet. As she clambered back upright, though, Anna noticed something out of the corner of her eye; was it a branch or something?

Once steady again, she saw it for what it was: a black, hoofed forelimb sticking out of the water at an odd angle, while the body to which it remained attached to remained anchored against a large stone.

"There's a dead horse over there!" she called out.

The rest of the party, who'd paused for Anna's sake, looked in her direction, and soon all could confirm her claim; Elsa from her perch could see at least one other drowned horse, as black as the one before it, further downriver.

"Then it is as I assumed," Glorfindel said, "Those were once the steeds of the Black Riders. Were I but here to see the means of their defeat!"

"So, does that mean they're no more?" Merry queried.

"Hardly," Strider responded, "If anything, they will be retreating back to Mordor after this defeat…but they will return, and with new beasts to ride as well. For now, though, we may walk more peacefully."

Anna felt uneasy about the whole 'returning' thing at first…but then she realized how soon it would be before that problem would no longer be hers, or anyone's for that matter. She could almost feel such a weight lifting off of her shoulders.

In hardly any time at all, they soon reached the opposite bank, and Elsa dismounted Glorfindel's steed with much expressed gratitude. But having gotten this far, Anna neglected to remove her soaked boots, instead opting to rough it out until they reached their destination. To this end, they began to travel uphill on the winding path, and once again found themselves in the shadows of towering trees. Very quickly, however, the trees were replaced once again by towering walls of unhewn stone trickling with water, while the light beamed down through a narrow crack far above them. At first, Anna only felt relief that she wouldn't have to climb over a mountain in waterlogged boots…

And then they entered sunlight, and pure astonishment assumed its place in Anna's mind as she saw what lay before her.

There, nestled against the gargantuan, tree-swathed stone walls of the gorge and bathed in the golden light of the afternoon sun, stood a cluster of stone buildings, carefully perched on stone outcroppings above rushing waterfalls that tumbled far below them. Everything about the place just exuded a sort of heavenly quality she'd never seen before back home. Even from where she stood, she could see an element of elegance and even an almost organic quality contained in each and every arch, bridge, tower, and even the windowpanes—and she didn't even have a competent knowledge of architecture. It seemed comfortable yet exotic, humble yet amazing, so…so…

"So," said Elsa, smiling as she walked up next to her, "What do you think of Rivendell?"

"Huh? Oh—oh! Oh Elsa, _wow,_ would you—I mean—it's so—IT'S SO PRETTY!" Anna stuttered. Her outburst startled the three remaining hobbits, who, up until that point had also been dumbstruck by the beauty of Rivendell.

"Come," Glorfindel said, "Lord Elrond will surely be expecting all of you."

"Yes, please!" Sam said, "Let's get to it, already!"

"For once, Master Samwise," Merry said, "we are in total agreement."

With that out of the way, the party proceeded. Going before them, Glorfindel led them down the path towards the buildings, and eventually over a stone bridge arching over the rushing stream water below. All the while, Anna couldn't help but stare at everything around her in utter awe and wonder. Maybe she had the all the ugliness and terror of the past couple of weeks or so to blame, but she hadn't felt such peace and beauty permeate through the core of her being like this in such a long time…it felt absolutely…magical? Yes, that seemed to be it; _magical_, to her.

At last they passed two stone sentries and entered a round circular pavilion before a great flight of stairs. Here, a small group of about five or so elves stood by in formation before them. A welcoming committee! Anna thought to herself. It had been so long since she'd seen one, and before now she'd never believed she'd miss one. Then she noticed the one in the front with dark hair dressed in long dark burgundy and lavender robes. She wondered, was that Elrond? If not…well then, he was still very handsome to look at, even for someone with pointed ears.

"Welcome to Rivendell, good travelers," the elf said to them, "My lord and master wishes thee well, and would greet thee himself if he were…" He seemed to choke on his words once his eyes laid hold upon Elsa.

"Hello Lindir," Elsa said to him, "It's good to see you again."

"Oh, Lady Elsa! Of course!" he said, "Forgive me; I'd been told you would be amongst the company, I simply didn't expect you to…forgive me, tis not my place to question. You will be pleased to know that we have prepared guestrooms for you to…"

"Where's Mister Frodo?" Sam cried out, shoving his way towards the front as he did so, "Is he going to be okay? I need to see 'im!"

"You need not fear, Master Gamgee," Lindir explained, "Frodo Baggins is currently in my Master's care, being treated for his injury. I can assure you myself that Lord Elrond is a master of the healing arts."

Already some of the tension lifted away from everyone's shoulders at the sound of that. Everyone that is, except for Sam. "Please, just show me where he is!" he pleaded, "I—I promise I won't get in the way or nothing, I just need to be there for 'im!"

Lindir stood there for a moment or two, his face kept sternly rigid, but in a way as not to let something out.

Finally, he motioned to one of the elves behind him, and said to Sam, "You will follow him. And please, if you would, remain as quiet as possible."

Relief washing over him like a flood, Sam nodded and hobbled after the designated elf. Lindir, meanwhile, turned back to the rest of the party and motioned to the other elves behind him, saying, "They will take you to your quarters. Food and drink will be provided shortly. For now, please rest, and know that you are safe and welcome here in Rivendell."

With that, they turned and bid Glorfindel their gratitude and farewell as he, upon his horse, trotted away, while another elf took Old Bill's bridle and led him in the same direction Glorfindel went off too; Anna could only assume that way led to the stables. Merry and Pippin swiftly followed after the elves assigned to them with an eager gleam in their eyes.

Elsa, meanwhile, walked straight up to Lindir. Anna followed suit, and listened as Elsa leaned in closely and said softly, "If you could please, my sister, Anna, and I are especially in need of Lord Elrond's assistance. If you could, could you find some way to arrange a private audience with him for us? It's especially urgent."

Those words came as a sudden reminder to Anna. Her fingers drifted down towards her pocket and lightly grazed the lump within it.

"Of course, milady," Lindir said, "Gandalf already informed him that you would be arriving with Frodo while on his way to Isengard. I shall inform Lord Elrond of your arrival shortly."

Both sisters expressed their gratitude to him and began following their designated elf-servant up the stairs, their steps bolstered greatly by the anticipation of getting true relaxation; how much longer did Anna need to wait to rest her aching bones on actual pillows and blankets? What more, she could do so in such a beautiful place! This place felt more like what one pictured the heart of autumn should be than what she'd been traveling through in the past couple of months or so, yet far more pleasant; she only needed to turn her head one way or the other to catch all the way the trees contained the flaming reds, yellows and oranges…

Suddenly, as she turned her head to the left, she caught something going on in the pavilion right out of the corner of her eye. Curiosity overtaking her, she paused to take a better look; at the bottom, she saw Lindir speaking with Strider, of all people. Whatever they were discussing, it must have been important; the two of them spoke in hushed tones, and from what she could tell from so far away, in that Elvish language of theirs, for she couldn't read the motion of their lips. But what could they be talking about? She could probably come up with a few guesses…

"Anna?" Elsa called out from further up on the stairs, "Is there something wrong?"

Shaken out of her investigative state of mind, Anna pulled herself back into reality to run up the stairs and rejoin Elsa. Perhaps she could talk to Strider about it later…then again, maybe not.

The guest chamber ended up being at the end of a long, winding, though very beautiful, path over one or two bridges and past groups of elves singing, dancing, or playing instruments. These were lovely and all, but at the moment Anna had only one thing on her mind, and once she passed through the alabaster doors with Elsa, it presented itself to her in all its soft, white, fluffy glory. Never before had Anna felt so glad to see such a marvelous bed, framed by wood sculpted in the shape of an elf maiden that seemed to present it to her as a gracious gift—not to mention the clean dresses of light colors draped upon them. As soon as she could, she changed out of her traveling attire into the slim dress that hugged her frame and caressed it ever so gently, but that served as prelude. Every aching joint in her body egging her on, she went straight for the bed and flopped down face first into its embrace, letting out a massive sigh of relief, muffled by the thick blankets. "I am never sleeping on the ground again!" she declared.

Elsa, meanwhile, dismissed their guide, and once certain they were out of sight, walked over to the bed across from the one Anna sprawled herself over, and proceeded to collapse onto it as well, letting out a similar groan in both relief and agreement. "I know," she sighed, "this is just too good…anyway, we need to make ourselves presentable before Lord Elrond…" She mumbled something incoherent into the pillows after that, something that drifted off into silence…

Concerned, Anna pulled her head out of the blanket and looked over in Elsa's direction. She laid absolutely still, the thicker part of the blanket marking out her figure.

"Elsa?" Anna softly said, "You were saying?"

A soft snore buzzed away in response.

Anna chortled at what she'd seen, disbelieving what lay before her eyes; her sister fell to sleep in an instant. And to think that _she'd _been the one riding the horse partway through!

However, Anna couldn't argue with Elsa's logic any more than a leaf fight against the wind, nor did she want to at the moment. Without any hesitation, she fell back into the comforts of her bed...only to remember something important. Hoisting her torso back up yet again, she pulled up her dirty, worn out dress, and from its pocket she plucked out the little velvet back, with its precious cargo safe and sound after all the insanity they endured. She quickly transferred it into the pocket on the dress she now wore, and once more flopped back into the soft fluff of the blankets and pillows provided for her. _We deserve this_, she thought to herself, _We totally deserve this._

* * *

They both laid atop their beds for what must have been an hour at the very least. Yet whereas her body felt content to simply lie still, Anna's mind began to stir uncontrollably after such time elapsed. By now she'd flipped herself to lie on her back and face the ceiling, painted to appear as the daytime sky laced with soft wispy clouds.

Now that she had some time to think about it, she more fully comprehended the fact that she was in _Rivendell_. More than once Elsa practically sang praises of the brief time she'd spent here, and now here they were! How could she simply ignore that? Once again the urge to explore latched upon her mind, just to see where Elsa had been so long ago…

She sat up, and looked over at her sleeping sister. Elsa hadn't budged an inch, and still she snored peacefully away. True, her snoring in no way became obnoxious, but at least Anna had something to actually tease Elsa with; goodness knew _she _didn't snore whatsoever.

Her thoughts returned to where they'd been before. She looked out the windows she neglected to see the first time around; out there, she could see the trees glow golden in the sunlight, hear the birds sing away, and could even spot two elf children dancing and laughing together through the falling leaves. She then turned her attention towards the door across from her.

Maybe she'd be better off waiting for Elsa to wake up, she contemplated. That way, she'd have a nice little tour of Rivendell, have a bit of history to go with it as well…but then she remembered that warm summer day in the Shire that now seemed so long ago. She remembered how desperate Elsa had been just to get back to Arendelle. If she waited, and if Elrond arrived by the time Elsa woke up, they'd be back home in a heartbeat, and Anna would never get to see one iota of this place ever again! She couldn't let that happen…not just yet.

She looked back at Elsa again. She looked so peaceful there…and she'd fallen asleep so fast…and on top of that, Anna felt confident in her ability to walk at a brisk pace. With how open this place seemed to be, she doubted any chance of her getting lost. She'd be back before Elsa could wake up; at least this time she wasn't going to be stealing anything or something stupid like that.

* * *

A sharp rapping pierced the dreamless slumber that Elsa allowed to wrap around her. Shaking herself awake again, she stood back upright almost militantly, while her hand rose to the ready. Were they in danger again? Fool that she was, letting herself doze off again like that…

But then she saw where she sat; upon a bed in a room in one of the safest places in Middle Earth. Outside the window, she saw the shadows grow longer than what she'd seen before, and the sky grow rich in its coloration…how long had she been asleep? Thankfully it didn't seem as though it'd been too long…

The rapping came through the wooden door again. Alert once more, Elsa rushed to straighten her hair into place as best as she could. If only she'd been given time to bath or something…

"Um, yes," she called out, "Please, come in!"

The door gently swung open, and in stepped Lindir. "Many apologies for the intrusion, milady," he said with a quick bow, "but…"

He then stepped aside, and past him stepped Elrond himself. He appeared almost exactly as Elsa remembered seeing him last, almost like an eagle in the form of an elf with his sharp eyes that seemed to gaze into her soul, tempered though by the slight smile he wore as he walked in. Just as before, he wore his dark brown hair in long, loose braids that reached past his shoulders, touching upon the silver robes he wore. Out of all the familiar faces she'd seen so far on this journey, his was the one that time touched upon the least, if at all.

"Welcome back to Rivendell, Elsa of Arendelle," he said as he walked in, "We are graced by your presence once more."

"Thank you. It's good to see you too," she responded amidst a curtsey. Once Elrond dismissed Lindir and the door shut, she added, "I just wish we were meeting again under better circumstances."

"Indeed," Elrond replied. "It would seem that the barrier of time between our worlds is a curious one, if you don't mind me saying."

Elsa actually found herself blushing for once. "I know, it's very strange," she admitted, "I'm not sure how it works, though; only a year went by back in Arendelle, but here…"

"I must confess," Elrond went on, "that I was surprised to hear of your return from Gandalf, especially after your previous adventures in our world."

Her heartbeat began to rise. "Is he here?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not," Elrond said, "the last we saw of him was when he rode through here on his way to Isengard. No word has come of his whereabouts since then; but I trust that he will arrive shortly."

Disappointment tinged Elsa's thoughts after that news. Still, the Wizard remained missing…what exactly had he been up to for the past month? If only he'd been around when…suddenly she realized something horrible. How and why did she forget?

"Frodo!" she suddenly said, "I almost forgot! Is Frodo safe? Will he be—I mean, is he…?"

"Frodo will survive," Elrond assured her, "The Morgul blade has been removed; he will regain his strength soon enough."

More than anything, those words brought relief to her soul at this time. "Oh, thank you so much," she sighed, "I don't know what I would do if anything more happened to him."

"He is indeed fortunate to have come to us so swiftly. Perhaps he was even more fortunate to have you for a traveling companion."

She shook her head. "No," she said, "I failed him when he needed me. All my power, and yet…"

"That matters not," said Elrond. "You have succeeded in getting him here. For now, though, there are certain matters that you and I must discuss. Tell me, why have you returned?"

Reminded of her mission, Elsa went on to explain, as best as she could recall in that moment, the circumstances of her return, from the Council Meeting and her battle with the Phantom, to the reunion with Gandalf and their setting off to Rivendell in the first place. "Believe me," she finished, "I understand what danger we are all in right now. All I want is for my sister and I to return home before anything else can happen."

Elrond quietly nodded and listened throughout the whole story. Once she finished, he asked, "Now, where is the Star Gem that brought you here?"

"My sister has it," she answered, "She's been keeping it in her pocket from me the entire journey."

"And where is she now?"

Elsa turned towards the bed Anna fell upon earlier to point her out, and wake her up if necessary. Instead, she discovered no one there at all.

Panic gripped her heart yet again in its relentlessness. How in the world had she not noticed the absence of the most talkative person she'd ever known in her entire life?

* * *

Rivendell, as Anna soon found out, might not have been very large in and of itself, but it possessed enough of everything in it that could command her attention. However briskly she compelled her feet to move, she found herself entranced by everything around her, delaying her every step. Everything lulled her in with its own unique sirens' call to her, from the gardens where fragrant flowers bloomed even in the throes of autumn, to the vast paintings on the walls bearing the kind of craftsmanship that put the Royal Gallery back at the castle to shame. Even the music strumming from the harps and whistling through the flutes of the elven players she passed by had a quality seductive to her boundless curiosity, compelling her to stay around and listen to the fruits of whatever muse had inspired them. Each one held her attention for much longer than she initially desired, and yet she hardly cared. Such beauty enthralled her like never before; how could she go back to Arendelle after experiencing a place like this?

Eventually, her feet led her down one hallway in particular. Aside from the usual embellishments, it had little to show off—except for one thing. Only one door stood at the end of this hallway, yet it stood open wide enough for Anna to poke her head through. Again, her inquisitiveness compelled her forward; she stepped carefully towards it, and the closer she came, the more she could hear something like scratching…or was it scribbling? Yes, yes, that was it! Soon enough, she heard a faint mumbling, and eventually she could make out words…

"No, no…that's not the right meter at all! If only I'd…oh forget it…fool that I am…"

Strange, she thought. That voice sounded too old to be that of an elf—that is, if she correctly understood how long-lived and ageless elves were, going off of what she'd heard—but still, who was that in there?

She inched closer until she stood at the very doorpost. She kept still as she could be, before leaning in and pushing her head through the gap to peer in. There, she found a room that she probably would've guessed to be much larger if it were not for all the clutter inside: books ranging from pocket-sized to massive tomes lined the shelves and stood stacked on tables; scrolls piled on top of each other into great stacks took up cubby holes like still bees; and maps detailing lands that she never knew of, wider than the span of her arms, covered nearly every inch of the room that wasn't the floor.

Towards the further end, right below an open window overlooking the rest of the valley, she could see the back of a small figure robed in blue silver. He sat in a chair higher than he stood, hunched over a writing desk and holding a quill in one wrinkled hand. Through the mess of curly hair as white as downy feathers, she could spot the very pointed tips of his ears, and past the chair legs, she could also see his large, hair-covered feet.

A hobbit? What business did a hobbit, especially one so old and frail, have in Rivendell? Why did she not know about this beforehand? Did she dare even ask?

Whatever reason he had for being here, he certainly seemed very busy with…something, she couldn't quite tell from where she stood. Just letting him be and returning to Elsa's side before she knew she was missing would be the polite thing to do, she knew that much...but what could he be working on, exactly? Did it have something to do with all the maps and such? Maybe he acted as the historian or archivist…but again that begged the question, why a hobbit when, if Anna understood correctly, elves were immortal? Could she be missing something here?

Dying to know, she went ahead and slid the rest of herself through the doorway, watching each step she took inside to make sure he didn't' hear him, and also so she didn't step on anything important—at least, what she assumed to be important. How could she tell with these type of people?

Slowly but surely she tiptoed her way through the maze of books, stools, and paper in the direction of where he sat, until at last she came too close for comfort, about two paces away from him. Still, she couldn't stand not knowing; she leaned to one side, then forward, stretching herself to catch a glimpse of his work over his shoulder…

"How many times must I tell you, madam, I'm not to be disturbed!" the hobbit said very squarely.

He caught Anna completely off guard; the shock and surprise of his words knocked her off her feet and sent her toppling to the floor—unfortunately in her tumble, she took several scrolls and sheets of parchment down with her.

The old hobbit turned around in surprise at the sound of the ruckus. He looked down at her from his perch with hazel eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses, and lips curled downward in surprised annoyance, all set in a face creased and wrinkled with the passing of years. "Fiddlesticks," he said, "Those dated back from the Second Age, you foolish—hold on a moment, you're not one of the maids. You're not even an elf! What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh, I am SO sorry about that!" Anna stumbled as she strived to roll back the scrolls and set everything in its proper place, "I didn't mean to—I was just wondering if—I mean, I really should have knocked first, I know, it's just that I wanted to see what you were doing, but I guess you don't want anyone to see what you're doing, and I understand that, I mean if I were doing something in private I wouldn't want anyone to see that—uh, don't read too much into that part—OH!" A scroll began to slip out from beneath her poorly reconstructed stack, and she scrambled to fit it back in. She looked back at the old hobbit, chuckling nervously. "Anywho," she went on, "I should really just be getting out of your hair, so sorry again about the mess—even though it was kind of a mess already, but it's your mess, so…sorry, bye!"

She briskly made her way back to the exit, but before she could even reach the doorknob…

"Now stop right there, young lady!" the old hobbit barked out. Anna froze in place at that command, suddenly wondering if she'd broken anything else.

"Please," he continued, his voice curiously softening, "Come back here, if you would."

Very reluctantly, she complied, carefully walking back to him as he removed the glasses and set them on the desk, along with the feather quill.

"You," he declared, "are not one of the Bree-folk. The men of Dale probably couldn't lay claim to you either. I don't' suppose, by any means, that you would be of Rohan, or Gondor?"

Rohan? Gondor? What were those? Would he kill her if she answered incorrectly?

"Uh," she answered, "…no?"

"Hm," the old hobbit replied, "Curious. Tell me then, what land sent you all the way to Rivendell?"

Anna remembered the risks Elsa laid out before her so long ago about people knowing their true origins. Though she had little doubt concerning her safety in Rivendell, she felt it especially wise not to divulge such information here; who knew how he would respond? She could at least try to be vague about the whole thing.

"Oh, just…well, a lot farther away than anywhere _you've _traveled, I imagine," she said.

He raised an eyebrow in response. "Try me, young lady," he said.

Her heart sank once he called his bluff.

"Well," she went on, "Where I'm from is…well, it's very far north of here."

"North, hm?" the old hobbit mumbled, shifting in his seat. "Very well, not a lot of kingdoms up north from what I've studied…but perhaps I can guess. You seem to be someone who enjoys riddles, no?"

Before she could go on, she suddenly had the very bad feeling that perhaps he outmatched her by a longshot. Feeling her luck dry up, she opted instead to quit while she was ahead.

"I'm very sorry, sir," she said, "But I just realized that I need to be somewhere at the moment. My…mistress, is probably wondering where I am. I shouldn't have run off."

His eyelids lowered slightly. "Very well, then," he answered, "but before you depart, I have to ask, just out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to know of a land called Arendelle, would you?"

Her heart nearly stopped at the question. How in the world did this person know so much? How many people were in on their quest aside from herself and Elsa?

_Now Anna, don't panic_, she told herself, _maybe, just, I dunno, just whatever you do, don't slip that you're from another world…of course! Just play dumb!_

"Arendelle?" she said, feigning absolute yet cheery confusion, "_Pfft, _what kind of a name for a kingdom is _that_? _I've _never heard of such a kingdom, and if I did, I probably could think of a much cooler name like Fantasia, or Amazinga…or, I don't know, Britain, or something like that—ahem, no, no I haven't. Sorry."

His brow furrowed sadly. "Very well then," he said, a somber tone entering his voice. He turned back towards the paper laid across his desk, saying, "I really didn't expect you to know. It's just that…I had a very old friend from long ago who claimed to be from that kingdom. It's very silly, I know, but I hoped that perhaps you'd know where to find it. Goodness knows I've been trying to do so for years, now."

With that, all of the pieces fell into place, and Anna's head nearly exploded with the revelation.

Taking a moment to recover, she struggled to know what to do now—if this was him, and he was talking about her—she had to. One way or another, she had to get them to meet—but given the wall of lies she just built up, now she had to be subtle. Or at least, as subtle as she could be. Very quickly, she worked to build up an alibi.

"Actually," she started, "I think that my sis—I mean, my _mistress_, would love to see—all of this!" She gestured in one swooping motion to all the books and maps in the room, "She's quite the traveler, and I think you two would get along quite well."

"If your mistress is here for the reasons that I believe she is," the old hobbit answered, "Then she simply won't have the time for it. Besides, I'm not working on a travelling compendium anyway. Those days are far behind me."

"Oh, that's okay, too!" she said, trying to salvage the situation as best as she could, "You don't have to talk about stuff like that—actually, she's quite an important lady back where we come from, and…"

"And I suppose such an important lady simply has no time to chat with someone invested in translating works of Elvish in the midst of retirement. Now, I believe you said something about needing to return back to your mistress, am I wrong?"

No no no! This was going all wrong! How in the world was she going to get this guy to come with her? Anna started to grow more desperate with the passing second; there had to be something she could say to get him to come with her!"

"Oh, please, _please, _sir!" she pleaded, "It's not about any of that—I just feel that you two would get along great together! I really mean it!"

"And why is that?"

"Well, because she's—"

Before she could fumble around anymore, Elsa stepped into the room at that moment.

"Anna!" she said, "Where have you been? We have to…"

On hearing her voice Anna chose that particular instant to step to the side, unveiling the Old Hobbit to her sister. She stood back and watched the scene unfold with a smile.

The effect came almost instantly; on seeing Elsa, the Old Hobbit softly gasped, his eyes widening at the sight. "Bless my soul…," he whispered, "Is that you?"

"I—I'm sorry," Elsa stuttered, "I don't—have we-?"

"Elsa," he said, hopping down from his chair, "It's _me!_"

Elsa stood there for a few seconds, the confusion furrowing her brow. Then, at long last, her eyes widened open as well in sync with her drawn breath.

Finally, she spoke.

"_Bilbo?_"

Tears welled up in both of their eyes. Elsa began to run towards him, but fell to her knees halfway, crying aloud as she did. Bilbo, meanwhile, practically ran towards her as best as old age would allow him to. They both met in the tight embrace of each other's arms, the tears running forth like rivers.

Anna, meanwhile, quietly backed away and watched all this with both a heart bursting at the seams and her mind just about ready to go with it. Never before had she dreamed she'd be responsible for such a beautiful reunion…even if it didn't exactly line up with what she had in mind. Bilbo, truth be told, was a lot older looking than what she'd expected.

"I see," a voice said next to her, almost causing her to jump, "that you have met Master Baggins, then. He usually doesn't care for visitors, but you seem to have made an exception."

Anna turned and saw next to her a tall, imposing elf with long brown hair that looked down at her with imposing eyes. "Come," he said, "We should let them have their joy for the time being."

Though surprised at first, Anna looked back at her sister, and felt it wise to agree. She followed the elf out through the door, though taking a moment to look back at the two laughing, crying friends.

Never before had she seen her sister so happy in so long up until now.

Once the two were outside of Bilbo's study, the elf turned and said, "You must be Princess Anna of Arendelle, then. I am Lord Elrond."

Anna practically kicked herself in the middle of a curtsy for not having been more polite. "Oh, yes," she said, "It's good to meet you, sir—sire—highness-majesty…anyway, um yeah! Sorry I just…anyway, you were saying?"

"Your sister tells me that you have something I ought to look at," Elrond explained, "Is that not so?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, that's right! Just give me one moment." She then dug into her pocket, pulled out the velvet bag, and opened it wide enough for the Gem to poke out slightly before handing it to Elrond. He stared down with an ever so slightly furrowed brow at the crystal, which still remained dim and swirling with grey smoke within.

"So," Anna said, "Do you think you can fix it? Not that I'm trying to rush or anything…"  
"I will look into this," Elrond assured her, "and will speak to both you and your sister in the morning. But for now, rest, and know that you are welcome here at Rivendell as honored guests." He then turned to walk away down the hall, but then turned back to her and added, "And if you would, please try not to get into any more trouble."

Anna nodded. She had no intention of getting into trouble of any kind. For now, she felt content to sit back and just see the fruits of her labors blossom between Elsa and Bilbo.

* * *

The setting sun found Elsa and Bilbo alone together at one of the porches overlooking the valley. In her hands, Elsa held something Bilbo had been very eager to show her; a deep red book, with a silver star on the cover. Inside, she read the book's title:

_There and Back Again:_

_A Hobbit's Tale, by Bilbo Baggins_

That was only the start. Flipping through the pages, she found herself reliving so many memories that, while only a year old to her, seemed to represent themselves here as legends; here and there, Bilbo had drawn in illustrations of some of the items, weapons and places seen during the Quest. Once or twice, she even caught glimpses of herself in Bilbo's telling of the story; in very deed, he referred to her as the 'Snow Queen', as Frodo described. For a moment, she landed on a page whereupon the Long Lake and its surrounding towns, nestled before the lonely mountain itself, were rendered in crisp ink; to her, it seemed as though she were glimpsing into the past once again.

"Bilbo," she said, "This is wonderful! How long have you worked on this?"

"Quite some time, actually," he replied, beaming with pride. "I've also been working on translating some elvish records into the common tongue as well, and what I've found is simply fascinating. I do believe Frodo will quite like it as well."

He paused for a moment or two before going on. "It's funny, actually," he explained, "I intended to go back there once again…wander the paths of Mirkwood, visit Laketown, see the Lonely Mountain again…" He sat down next to Elsa with a deep, resigning sort of sigh. "I even thought to myself, perhaps foolishly so, that I might have been able to travel far beyond that, see where the Road would take me, and hope beyond hope that…I might even find Arendelle."

Elsa's heart sank at the mention of that.

"However," Bilbo went on, "Age, it seems, has finally caught up with me. I didn't get very far, as you can obviously tell, but I will say that retirement here is quite pleasant, and it has quite the benefits, if I may say so myself."

Elsa's mind lingered on what he said about Arendelle. Had he truly hoped he'd be able to walk far enough to find it? To think she'd misled him about such a thing…to think he believed that if he walked far enough, somehow he'd be able to find her…it was actually rather touching to her, more so after everything she'd learned so far.

At that moment, she hated herself so much for what she'd done to him. If only she had known…

"Bilbo," she said, "I—I'm sorry…for everything. It's just that…well, believe me, I would have loved for you to come visit, it's just….there's no way you could have found Arendelle, because…oh, I wish there was some way I could explain it…Maybe I should have stayed. Maybe I shouldn't have gone back and…"

Before she could break down into tears again, Bilbo placed his hand on hers, drawing her attention. "Now Elsa," he said, "There's no need to be sorry to me. Just tell me, are you happy?"

"What?"

"Is your kingdom safe? Did you reunite with your sister again? Have you done what you needed to do?"

She nodded weakly.

"Then it sounds to me like you have everything you need," he said, "And yet, there's so much more up ahead for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Elsa, I know I'm old, good looks notwithstanding. I've lived my life; I've had many joys, many sorrows, and many regrets. Are there things that I wish that I could go back and change? Nowadays, absolutely. But where am I to go? My part in this story is just about over. But you have so much more to live for! Your story is far from over! You have too much guilt weighing you down; just let it go, and whatever you do, don't let some old hobbit hold you back from doing so."

Elsa didn't quite know how to feel about this at first; after all, she had so much that she wanted to explain to him…and yet, the smile he wore and the twinkle in his eye felt reassuring to her.

"You're not just some old hobbit," she said as she drew him in for another embrace, "You're my most trusted friend."

"Glad to know that," he replied.

They resumed sitting there uninterrupted, while the sun continued to retreat from the sky. Eventually, Elsa realized that she had things to do, and so the two of them bid each other good night, and began to depart for their chambers.

Suddenly, Bilbo spoke up again.

"Actually," he said, "Before you go, there is something I need to ask you about, Elsa."  
"What's that?"

"Well," he explained, "I'm not sure what it was about, but…a few years after I returned home to Bag End, I was visited by a very strange man who was asking about you."

About _her_? Whatever peace she'd attained in her soul rippled at that statement. "Who was he?" she asked.

"He never gave me a name," Bilbo went on, "I think he said he was a healer of some sort…I don't know what he wanted with you, but I replied that I hadn't seen you in years. After that, I never saw him again….do you know anything about it?"

"No," she answered, "I don't."

His face began to scrunch up again, just as suspicious as she felt about it…but then his smile returned. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. After all, we have more important things to worry about. I shall see you in the morning, then?"

"Yes," she answered, "Goodnight, Bilbo!"

And with that, she went off again…but the thought of this man returned to her again. Who was he? Why did he ask about her of all people?

But then again, perhaps Bilbo was right. Perhaps this could be put off for later; after all, she'd been through a very long day.

**Author's Note: Many apologies for getting this one out so late. I had a lot of things on my plate during 2016, and the fact that most of this chapter required a lot more original material from me made it all the more difficult to crank this one out. I wanted to get it done around Christmas, but clearly that didn't happen. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you have a Happy New Year!**


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